What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2
by Lord PotterXXVII
Summary: Elizabeth & Co's adventures continue when the Chamber of Secrets is thrown open, how will our heroine react? Direct continuation to part 1, rating now upped to Teen for safety.
1. Chapter 1

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: Yes, I'm back again, now I'm finished with University, or College as you Americans call it for now, I can get on with part 2 of my take on the Fem Harry Scenario, read on to see what Elizabeth will face when the Chamber of Secrets is opened. As per part one, if you don't like it, don't read it but please don't spoil it for the hundreds of other people who do like it._

Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive. Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his niece Elizabeth's room.

'Third time this week!' he roared across the table. 'If you can't control that owl, it'll have to go!'

Elizabeth sighed and once again did her best to explain elementary ornithology to her dim-witted uncle  
'She's bored,' she said. 'She's used to flying around outside, if I could just let her out at night to hunt.'

'Do I look stupid?' snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy moustache. Elizabeth bit back the retort she longed to utter as her uncle carried on.

'I know what'll happen if that owl's let out.'

He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia.

Elizabeth tried to argue back but her words were drowned by a long, loud belch from the Dursleys' son, Dudley. 'I want more bacon.'

'There's more in the frying pan, sweetums,' said Aunt Petunia, turning misty eyes on her massive son. 'We must build you up while we've got the chance… I don't like the sound of that school food…'

'Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings,' said Uncle Vernon heartily. 'Dudley gets enough, don't you, son?'

Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the kitchen chair, grinned and turned to Elizabeth.

'Pass the frying pan.'

'You've forgotten the magic word,' said Elizabeth irritably, wishing her cousin could learn some manners.

The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples.

'I meant 'please'!' said Elizabeth quickly. 'I didn't mean.'

'WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU,' thundered her uncle, spraying spit over the table, 'ABOUT SAYING THE 'M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE?'

'But I only…' 'HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!' roared Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his fist.

'Listen…..'

'I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!'

Elizabeth stared from her purple-faced uncle to her pale aunt, who was trying to heave Dudley to his feet and noticed a mild glow begin to emerge around her.

'All right,' said Elizabeth, 'all right…'

Uncle Vernon sat back down, breathing like a winded rhinoceros and watching Elizabeth closely out of the corners of his small, sharp eyes as if waiting for her to utter one single word as the glow faded.

Ever since Elizabeth had come home for the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon had been treating her like an unexploded bomb that might go off at any moment, because Elizabeth Potter wasn't a normal girl. As a matter of fact, she was as not normal as it is possible to be as Elizabeth Potter was a witch. A witch fresh from her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and if the Dursleys were unhappy to have her back for the holidays. It was nothing to how she felt. She missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomach ache. She really missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, her classes, where she was one of the best students in her year. The mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in her four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting the gamekeeper, Hagrid, in his cabin next to the Forbidden Forest in the grounds. Last and most definitely not least, she missed Quidditch, the most popular sport in the wizarding world (six tall goal posts, four flying balls, and fourteen players on broomsticks). As soon as Elizabeth had stepped out of her uncle's car, all of her spellbooks, her wand, robes, cauldron, and top-of-the-line Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick had been locked in a cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon. What did the Dursleys care if Elizabeth lost her place on the House Quidditch team because she hadn't practiced all summer? Or what would happen to her if she couldn't get her homework done, simply because she couldn't study her books. The Dursleys were what most wizards called Muggles (not a single drop of magical blood in their veins), and as far as they were concerned, having a witch in the family was a matter of deepest shame. Uncle Vernon had even padlocked Elizabeth's owl, Hedwig, inside her cage, to stop her from carrying messages to anyone in the wizarding world.

Elizabeth looked nothing like the rest of the family. Uncle Vernon was huge and neck less, with an enormous black moustache; Aunt Petunia was horse-faced and bony; Dudley was blond, pink, and porky. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was small and skinny for her age, with bright green eyes and long dark red hair that she could alter in style at will, though she didn't dare use her metamorphmagus talents in front of the Dursley's. But what truly made Elizabeth stand apart from others was the thin lightning shaped scar on her forehead. It was this scar that made Elizabeth so particularly unusual, even for a witch. This scar was the only hint of Elizabeth's very mysterious past, of the reason she had been left on the Dursleys' doorstep eleven years before. At the age of one year old, Elizabeth had somehow survived a curse from the greatest Dark sorcerer of all time, Lord Voldemort. Whose name most witches and wizards still feared to speak, and a curse which had killed anybody else it struck. Elizabeth's parents had both died in Voldemort's attack, but she had survived and at the same time, Voldemort's powers had been destroyed the instant he had failed to kill Elizabeth. So she had been brought up by her dead mother's sister and her husband. She had spent ten horrible years with the Dursleys, never knowing what had happened and why she kept making strange things happen.

Then, exactly a year ago, Hogwarts had written to Elizabeth, and the whole story had come out. She had taken up her place at wizard school, where she and her scar were famous… but now the school year was over, and she was back with the Dursleys for the summer, back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly. The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be Elizabeth's twelfth birthday. Of course, her hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given her a real present, let alone a cake, but to ignore it completely…At that moment, Uncle Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, 'Now, as we all know, today is a very important day.'

Elizabeth looked up, hardly daring to believe it, had her uncle finally developed compassion for her? Had he actually changed his obnoxious ways?

'This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career,' said Uncle Vernon.

Elizabeth went back to her toast. Of course, she thought bitterly, Uncle Vernon was talking about the stupid dinner party again. He'd been talking of nothing else for two weeks. Some rich builder and his wife were coming to dinner and Uncle Vernon was hoping to get a huge order from him.

'I think we should run through the schedule one more time,' said Uncle Vernon. "We should all be in position at eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be ?'

'In the lounge," said Aunt Petunia promptly, 'waiting to welcome them graciously to our home.'

'Good, good. And Dudley?'

'I'll be waiting to open the door.' Dudley put on a foul, simpering smile. 'May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?'

'They'll love him!' cried Aunt Petunia rapturously. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at this and hoped that they reported the Dursleys for spoiling her cousin rotten.

'Excellent, Dudley,' said Uncle Vernon. Then he rounded on Elizabeth. 'And you?'

'I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there,' said Elizabeth tonelessly.

'Exactly,' said Uncle Vernon nastily. 'I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks. At eight-fifteen.'

'I'll announce dinner,' said Aunt Petunia.

'And, Dudley, you'll say.'

'May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?' said Dudley, offering his fat arm to an invisible woman.

'My perfect little gentleman!' sniffed Aunt Petunia.

'And you?' said Uncle Vernon viciously to Elizabeth.

'I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there,' said Elizabeth dully.

'Precisely. Now, we should aim to get in a few good compliments at dinner. Petunia, any ideas?'

'Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr. Mason… Do tell me where you bought your dress, Mrs. Mason…'

Elizabeth sincerely wished that something could happen to ruin the dinner, if there was something she could do to make the guests realise how fake and deceptive the Dursley's were.

'Perfect… Dudley?'

'How about —'we had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr. Mason, and I wrote about you.''  
This was too much for both Aunt Petunia and Elizabeth. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and hugged her son, while Elizabeth put her hands to her mouth to stop herself giggling.

'And you, girl?'

Elizabeth fought to keep her face straight as she looked at her uncle.

'I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there,' she said again.

'Too right, you will.' said Uncle Vernon forcefully. 'The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way.

'When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for coffee, Petunia, and I'll bring the subject around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten. Be shopping for a holiday home in Majorca this time tomorrow.'

Elizabeth couldn't feel too excited about this. She didn't think the Dursleys would like her any better in Majorca than they did on Privet Drive.

'Right I'm off into town to pick up the dinner jackets for Dudley and me. And you,' he snarled at Elizabeth. 'You stay out of your aunt's way while she's cleaning.'

Elizabeth left through the back door. It was a brilliant, sunny day. She crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench and thought about her birthday. No cards, no presents, and she would be spending the evening pretending not to exist, how typical of her relatives, she had never felt so lonely, it wasn't so bad when she didn't know the truth. But now, more than anything else at Hogwarts, Elizabeth missed her friends, last year she had made a lot of new friends, but especially her best friends, the Granger twins, Jane and Hermione and also Charlotte McGonagall.

They, however, didn't seem to be missing her at all. None of them had written to her all summer, even though Ron Weasley had said he was going to ask Elizabeth to come and stay.

Countless times, Elizabeth had been on the point of unlocking Hedwig's cage by magic and sending her with a message, but Underage wizards weren't allowed to use magic outside of school, not that the Dursley's knew this of course, it was her one of only two means of leverage that she had against her horrid relatives (the other item being the runed panic button that Professor Snape had given her). For the first couple of weeks back, Elizabeth had enjoyed muttering nonsense words under her breath and watching Dudley tearing out of the room as fast as his fat legs would carry him. But the long silence from Hermione, Jane and the others had made Elizabeth feel so cut off from the magical world that even taunting Dudley had lost its appeal, and now they'd all had forgotten her birthday. What wouldn't she give now for a message from Hogwarts? From any witch or wizard? She'd almost be glad of a sight of her archenemy, Pansy Parkinson or her equally annoying betrothed Draco Malfoy, just to be sure it hadn't all been a dream…

Not that her whole year at Hogwarts had been fun. At the very end of last term, Elizabeth had come face-to-face with none other than Lord Voldemort himself. Voldemort might be a ruin of his former self, but he was still terrifying, still cunning, still determined to regain power. Elizabeth had slipped through Voldemort's clutches for a second time, but it had been a very close escape and even now, weeks later, Elizabeth still kept seeing his face occasionally in her dreams.

Elizabeth suddenly sat bolt upright on the garden bench. She had been staring absent-mindedly into the hedge, and the hedge was staring back. Two enormous green eyes had appeared among the leaves.

Elizabeth jumped to his feet just as a jeering voice floated across the lawn.

'I know what day it is,' sang Dudley, waddling toward her. And Elizabeth sighed as he cousin came closer.

The huge eyes blinked and vanished.

'What then?' said Elizabeth, not taking her eyes off the spot where they had been.

'I know what day it is,' Dudley repeated, coming right up to her.

'Well done,' said Elizabeth. 'So you've finally learned the days of the week.'

'Today's your birthday,' sneered Dudley. 'How come you haven't got any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?'

'Better not let your mum hear you talking about my school,' said Elizabeth coolly.

Dudley hitched up his trousers, which were slipping down his fat bottom.

'Why are you staring at the hedge?' he said suspiciously.

'I'm trying to decide what would be the best spell to turn it into an ENT.' Smiling mischievously at her cousin.

Dudley stumbled backward at once, a look of panic on his fat face.

'You c-can't, Dad told you you're not to do m-magic, he said he'll chuck you out of the house and you haven't got anywhere else to go, you haven't got any friends to take you.'

'Jiggery pokery!" said Elizabeth in a fierce voice. "Hocus pocus…. squiggly wiggly…'

'MUUUUUUM!' howled Dudley, tripping over his feet as he dashed back toward the house. 'MUUUUM! She's doing you know what!'

Elizabeth paid dearly for her moment of fun. As neither Dudley nor the hedge was in any way hurt, Aunt Petunia knew she hadn't really done magic, but she still had to duck as she aimed a blow at her head with a wooden spoon. Then she gave her work to do, with the promise she wouldn't eat again until she'd finished. While Dudley lolled around watching and eating ice cream, Elizabeth did most of the last minute preparations for the dinner party with the exception of cooking as they never trusted her with it when guests were coming, for fear she'd sabotage it.

It was half past seven in the evening when at last, exhausted, she heard Aunt Petunia calling her.

'Get in here! And walk on the newspaper!'

Elizabeth moved into the kitchen, on top of the fridge stood tonight's pudding: a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets. A loin of roast pork was sizzling in the oven.

'Eat quickly! The Masons will be here soon!' snapped Aunt Petunia, pointing to a bowl of the stew they'd had yesterday, she was already wearing a salmon-pink cocktail dress.

Elizabeth washed her hands and ate her stew, the moment she had finished, Aunt Petunia whisked away her bowl. 'Upstairs! Hurry!'

As she passed the door to the living room, Elizabeth caught a glimpse of Uncle Vernon and Dudley in bow ties and dinner jackets. She had only just reached the upstairs landing when the doorbell rang and Uncle Vernon's furious face appeared at the foot of the stairs.

'Remember, girl, one sound.'

Elizabeth crossed to her bedroom on tiptoe slipped inside, closed the door, and turned to collapse on her bed, the trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.


	2. Chapter 2

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter Two: Dobby's Warning  
Elizabeth managed not to shout out, but only just as the little creature on the bed had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. Elizabeth recognised instantly that this was what had been watching her that morning, as they stared at each other; Elizabeth heard Dudley's voice following Uncle Vernon's brown nosing script from downstairs.

'May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?'

The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that it touched the floor. Elizabeth noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm- and leg-holes.

'Err, hello,' said Elizabeth nervously.

'Elizabeth Potter!' said the creature in a high-pitched voice Elizabeth was sure would carry down the stairs. 'So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, miss… Such an honour it is…'

'Th-thank you,' said Elizabeth, edging along the wall and sinking into her desk chair, next to Hedwig, who was asleep in her cage. Elizabeth recognised the creature as a house elf and said.

'Who are you?'

'Dobby, miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf,' said the creature.

'Ok' said Elizabeth. 'Err, I don't want to be rude or anything, but this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom.'

Aunt Petunias high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.

'Not that I'm not pleased to meet you,' said Elizabeth, 'but, err, is there any particular reason you're here? If we're not careful we'll bring them up here.'

'Oh, yes, miss," said Dobby earnestly. 'Dobby has come to tell you, miss… it is difficult, miss… Dobby wonders where to begin…'

'Sit down,' said Elizabeth politely, pointing at the bed.

To her horror, the elf began wailing very loudly.'  
'S-sit down!' he wailed. 'Never… never ever…'

Elizabeth thought she could hear the voices downstairs falter. "I'm sorry," she whispered, 'I didn't mean to offend you or anything .'

'Offend Dobby!' choked the elf. 'Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a witch like an equal.'

Elizabeth did her best to calm the creature down and ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last, he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Elizabeth in an expression of watery adoration.

'You can't have met many decent wizards,' said Elizabeth, trying to cheer him up.

Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, 'Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!'

'Don't, what are you doing?' Elizabeth hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed, Hedwig had woken up with a particularly loud screech and was beating her wings wildly against the bars of her cage.

'Dobby had to punish himself, miss, 'said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. 'Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, miss…'

Elizabeth nodded slowly, remembering a few facts about house elves and asked,

'Do they know you're here?'

Dobby shuddered.

'Oh, no, miss, no… Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, miss. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, miss.'

'But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?'

'Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, miss. They lets Dobby get on with it, miss. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments…'

Elizabeth shuddered; even the Dursleys weren't as bad as the sound of these people.

'I thought I had it bad staying here for another four weeks,' she said. 'This makes the Dursleys sound almost human. Can't anyone help you? Can't I?' Almost at once, Elizabeth wished she hadn't spoken. Dobby dissolved again into wails of gratitude.

'Please,' Elizabeth whispered frantically, 'please be quiet. If the Dursleys hear anything, if they know you're here, I'm dead.'

'Elizabeth Potter asks if she can help Dobby… Dobby has heard of your greatness, miss, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew…'

Elizabeth, who was feeling distinctly hot in the face, said, 'Whatever you've heard about my greatness is a load of rubbish. I'm not even top of my year at Hogwarts; that's Hermione, she and Charlotte are the best.'

But she stopped quickly, because thinking about her friends was painful.

'Elizabeth Potter is humble and modest,' said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. 'Elizabeth Potter speaks not of her triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.'

'Voldemort?' said Elizabeth.

Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, 'Ah, speak not the name, miss! Speak not the name!'

'Sorry,' said Elizabeth quickly. 'I know lots of people don't like it. My friend Ron certainly didn't'  
She stopped again. Thinking about Ron was painful, too. Dobby leaned toward Elizabeth, his eyes wide as headlights.  
'Dobby heard tell,' He said hoarsely, 'that Elizabeth Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago… that Elizabeth Potter escaped yet again and turned his servant to stone.'

Elizabeth nodded grimly, the image of Quirrell becoming a statue fresh in her mind and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.

'Ah, miss,' he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. 'Elizabeth Potter is valiant and bold! She has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Elizabeth Potter, to warn her, even if she does have to shut his ears in the oven door later… Elizabeth Potter must not go back to Hogwarts.'

There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Uncle Vernon's voice.

'W-what?' Elizabeth stammered. 'But I've got to go back, term starts on September first. It's all that's keeping me sane here; you don't know what it's like here. I do not belong here, I belong at Hogwarts and you're not stopping me.'

'No, no, no,' squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. 'Elizabeth Potter must stay where she is safe. She is too great, too good, to lose, If Elizabeth Potter goes back to Hogwarts, she will be in mortal danger.'

'Why?' said Elizabeth in surprise.

'There is a plot, Elizabeth Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year,' whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. 'Dobby has known it for months, miss. Elizabeth Potter must not put herself in peril. She is too important, miss!'

'What terrible things?' said Elizabeth at once. 'Who's plotting them?'

Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.

'See.'

'All right!' cried Elizabeth, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. 'You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?' A sudden, unpleasant thought struck her.

'Hang on, this hasn't got anything to do with Vol, sorry, with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod, 'she added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.

Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

'Not, not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, miss.'

But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Elizabeth a hint. Elizabeth then put two and two together.

'It's the family you work for isn't it!' Dobby looked like he was going to start banging his head on the wall, so Elizabeth seized him before he brought the Dursleys down on her.

'Well then, if somebody is planning some sort of conspiracy, they'll have a hard job of it. I mean, there's Dumbledore, for one thing, you know who Dumbledore is, don't you?'

Dobby bowed his head. 'Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, miss' Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper 'there are powers Dumbledore doesn't… power a decent wizard…'

And before Elizabeth could stop him; Dobby bounded off the bed, seized her desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with ear splitting yelps.

A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later Harry, heart thudding madly, heard Uncle Vernon coming into the hall, calling, and 'Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!'

'Quick! In the closet!' hissed Elizabeth, stuffing Dobby in, shutting the door, and flinging herself onto the bed just as the door handle turned.

'What — the —devil — are — you — doing?' said Uncle Vernon through gritted teeth, his face horribly close to Elizabeth's. 'You've just ruined the punch line of my Japanese golfer joke… One more sound and you'll wish you'd never been born, girl!'

He stomped flat-footed from the room. Shaking, Elizabeth let Dobby out of the closet.

'See what it's like here?' she said. 'See why I've got to go back to Hogwarts? It's the only place I've got, well, I think I've got friends, I would have a much better chance trying to foil your conspirator than staying here.'

'Friends who don't even write to Elizabeth Potter?' said Dobby slyly.

'I expect they've just been, wait a minute,' said Elizabeth, frowning. 'How do you know my friends haven't been writing to me? Have you been stopping my mail you little scoundrel.'

'Dobby has them here, miss, 'said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of Elizabeth's reach, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Elizabeth could make out Hermione's and Janes neat writing, Charlotte's flowing script, much like her mothers, Ron's untidy scrawl, Fitzwilliam's clear hand, Charles's trained chicken writing, Professor Snape's clear cursive and even a scribble that looked as though it was from Hagrid.

Dobby blinked anxiously up at Elizabeth.

'Elizabeth Potter mustn't be angry… Dobby hoped… if Elizabeth Potter thought her friends had forgotten her… Elizabeth Potter might not want to go back to school, miss…'

Elizabeth wasn't listening and made a grab for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of reach.

'Elizabeth Potter will have them; miss, if she gives Dobby her word that she will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, miss, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, miss!'

'No, I will not stay here, and if you don't stop trying to prevent me going, I will bring down reinforcements to stop you. 'Said Elizabeth angrily. 'Give me my friends' letters this minute!'

'Then you Dobby no choice,' said the elf sadly.

Before Elizabeth could move, Dobby had darted to the bedroom door, pulled it open, and sprinted down the stairs.

Mouth dry, stomach lurching, Harry sprang after him, trying not to make a sound. He jumped the last six steps, landing catlike on the hall carpet, looking around for Dobby. From the dining room, he heard Uncle Vernon saying, '… tell Petunia that very funny story about those American plumbers, Mr. Mason. She's been dying to hear…'

Elizabeth ran up the hall into the kitchen and felt her stomach disappear as she watched Dobby. Aunt Petunia's masterpiece of a pudding, the mountain of cream and sugared violets, was floating up near the ceiling. On top of a cupboard in the corner crouched Dobby.

'No, 'croaked Elizabeth. 'Please… they'll kill me…'

'Elizabeth Potter must say she's not going back to school.'  
'Dobby… please…I do not belong here, this isn't my home.'  
'Say it, miss.'

'I will not. I'd rather die at Hogwarts than stay here as a prisoner.'

Dobby gave her a tragic look.

'Then Dobby must do it, miss, for Elizabeth Potter's own good.'

The pudding fell to the floor with a deafening crash as it struck the tiles. Cream splattered the windows and walls as the dish shattered into splinters, Dobby disappearing with a crack in the confusion  
there were screams from the dining room and Uncle Vernon burst into the kitchen to find Elizabeth, rigid with shock, covered from head to foot in Aunt Petunia's pudding.

At first, it looked as though Uncle Vernon would manage to gloss the whole thing over. ('Just our niece, very disturbed, meeting strangers upsets her, so we kept her upstairs…')He shooed the shocked Masons back into the dining room, promised Elizabeth he would flay her to within an inch of her life when the Masons had left, and handed her a mop. Aunt Petunia dug some ice cream out of the freezer and Elizabeth, still shaking, started scrubbing the kitchen clean.

Uncle Vernon might still have been able to make his deal, if it hadn't been for the owl, which showed up about a minute later. Aunt Petunia was just passing around a box of after-dinner mints when a huge barn owl swooped through the dining room window, dropped a letter on Mrs. Mason's head, and swooped out again. Mrs. Mason screamed like a banshee and ran from the house shouting about lunatics. Mr. Mason stayed just long enough to tell the Dursleys that his wife was mortally afraid of birds of all shapes and sizes, and to ask whether this was their idea of a joke.

Elizabeth stood in the kitchen, clutching the mop for support, as Uncle Vernon advanced on her, a demonic glint in his tiny eyes and she pulled the stone out of her pocket, ready to summon help if it proved necessary.

'Read it girl!' he hissed evilly, brandishing the letter the owl had delivered. "Go on read it!"

Elizabeth took it. It did not contain birthday greetings.

_Dear Miss. Potter,  
We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine. As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school. (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offence under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy._

_Enjoy your holidays!_

Yours sincerely,  
Mafalda Hopkirk  
IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE  
Ministry of Magic

Elizabeth looked up from the letter and gulped.

'You didn't tell us you weren't allowed to use magic outside school,' said Uncle Vernon, a mad gleam dancing in his eyes. 'Forgot to mention it… Slipped your mind, I daresay…'

He was bearing down on Elizabeth like a great bulldog, all his teeth bared. 'Well, I've got news for you, girl… I'm locking you up… You're never going back to that school… never… and if you try and magic yourself out, they'll expel you!'

And laughing like a maniac, he dragged Elizabeth back upstairs. Elizabeth in desperation tried to use the stone but to her horror found that Dobby had somehow interfered with the runes and had therefore disabled it. Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word, the following morning, he paid a man to fit bars on Elizabeth's window. He himself fitted a cat-flap in the bedroom door, so that food could be pushed inside three times a day. They let Elizabeth out to use the bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, she was locked in her room around the clock. Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting, and Elizabeth couldn't see any plausible way out of her situation as she had no idea of how to pick locks and no method of cutting the bars. She lay on her bed watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window and wondered miserably what was going to happen to her. What was the good of magicking herself out of his room if Hogwarts would expel her for doing it? Yet life at Privet Drive had reached rock bottom. Now that the Dursleys knew they were safe from her magic, she had lost her only weapon. Dobby might have saved her from his families conspiracy, but had sentenced her to a fate worse than death in being stuck there forever. The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunias hand appeared, pushing a bowl of soup and some bread into the room. Elizabeth, whose insides were aching with hunger, jumped off her bed and seized the bowl, the soup was lukewarm and the bread stale, but she ate it anyway and then gave some of the vegetables and bread to Hedwig, who didn't look interested.

'It's no good turning your beak up at it — that's all we've got,' said Elizabeth grimly.

Supposing she was still alive in another four weeks, what would happen if she did not turn up at Hogwarts? Would anybody be sent to see why she hadn't come back? Would they be able to make the Dursleys let her go? The room was growing dark. Exhausted mentally and physically, Elizabeth fell into an uneasy sleep. She dreamed that she was on show in a zoo, with a card reading UNDERAGE WITCH attached to her cage. People goggled through the bars at her as she lay, starving and weak, on a bed of straw. She saw Dobby's face in the crowd and shouted out, asking for help, but Dobby called, "Elizabeth Potter is safe there, sir!" and vanished. Then the Dursleys appeared and Dudley rattled the bars of the cage, laughing at her.

'Stop it,' Elizabeth muttered as the rattling pounded in her sore head. 'Leave me alone… cut it out… I'm trying to sleep…'

She opened her eyes. Moonlight was shining through the bars on the window. And someone was goggling through the bars at her: a freckle-faced, red-haired, long-nosed someone.

Ron Weasley was outside Elizabeth's window.


	3. Chapter 3

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter 3 The Burrow

'_Ron!_' breathed Elizabeth, throwing on a dressing gown, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk through the bars. 'Ron, how did you get here?'

Elizabeth's mouth fell open as the full impact of what she was seeing hit her, Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked _in midair_.

Grinning at Elizabeth from the front seats were Fred and George, the twin merchants of menace who Elizabeth had met on the day she left for Hogwarts.

'All right, Lizzie?' asked George.

'What's been going on?' said Ron. 'Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles.'

'I didn't do it and how did he know about it?' Elizabeth asked in reply.

'He works for the Ministry,' said Ron. 'You _know_ we're not supposed to do spells outside school.'

'Like you can talk Ron,' said Elizabeth, staring at the floating car.

'Oh, this doesn't count,' said Ron, 'we're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, _we_ didn't enchant it, but doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with.'

'I told you, I didn't do it,' Said Elizabeth in exasperation, 'but it'll take too long to explain now and you'll need to tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, and my panic button's been broken somehow.'

'Stop gibbering Lizzie,' said Ron. 'We've come to take you home with us wether they like it or not.'

'But you three can't magic me out either,' Elizabeth pointed out.

'We don't need to,' said Ron, jerking his head toward the front seat and grinning, 'You forget who I've got with me.'

'Tie that around the bars,' said Fred, throwing the end of a rope to Elizabeth.

'Are you doing what I think you are? That'll make a racket and if the Dursleys wake up, they'll kill me.' said Elizabeth as she tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.

'Don't worry Lizzie, you'll be out of here before they even know we're here,' said Fred, 'oh, and stand back.'

Elizabeth moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, who seemed to have realized how important this was and kept still and silent. The car revved louder and louder and suddenly, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove in a straight line away from the window. Elizabeth ran back to the window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car. Elizabeth listened anxiously, but there was no sound from the Dursleys' bedroom and she hoped they hadn't woken up. When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to Elizabeth's window.

'Get in the car quick Lizzie,' Ron said.

'But all my Hogwarts things, my wand and my broomstick,' Elizabeth replied.

'Where did they put it?' Asked Ron.

'Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room.'

'No problem,' said George from the front passenger seat. 'Out of the way, Lizzie and watch the masters in action.'

Fred and George climbed silently through the window into Elizabeth's room, strode over to the door and started picking the lock with a bent hairpin.

'A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick,' said Fred, 'but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow.'

There was a small click and the door swung open.

'So, we'll get your trunk Lizzie, you grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron,' whispered George.

'Watch out for the bottom stair, it creaks,' Elizabeth warned the twins.

Elizabeth stood aside as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.

Elizabeth quickly moved around her room, collecting her things and passing them out of the window to Ron and then went to help Fred and George heave her trunk up the stairs as they whispered to her.

'What have you got in this thing Lizzie? The entire library?'

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and glared at them, but smiled and shook her head and at that moment heard Uncle Vernon cough. At last, they reached the landing, and then carried the trunk through Elizabeth's room to the open window. Fred climbed back into the car to pull with Ron, and Elizabeth and George pushed from the bedroom side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.

Uncle Vernon coughed again.

'A bit more,' panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car. 'One good push.'

Elizabeth and George threw their shoulders against the trunk and it slid out of the window into the back seat of the car.

'Okay, let's go, we've stayed too long already,' George whispered.

However, as Elizabeth moved to step out onto the windowsill there came a sudden loud screech from behind her, followed immediately by the thunder of Uncle Vernon's voice.

'THAT RUDDY OWL!'

'Oh no! Hedwig!'

Elizabeth tore back across the room as the landing light clicked on and she snatched up Hedwig's cage, dashed to the window, and passed it out to Ron. She was scrambling back onto the chest of drawers when Uncle Vernon hammered on the unlocked door and it crashed open. For a split second, Uncle Vernon stood framed in the doorway; then he let out a bellow like an angry bull and dived at Elizabeth, grabbing her by the ankle.

Ron, Fred, and George seized Elizabeth's arms and pulled as hard as they could.

'Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "She's getting away! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!'

But the Weasleys gave a gigantic tug and Elizabeth out of instinct, kicked out hard and hit her uncle in the face with a loud crunching sound and her leg slid out of Uncle Vernon's grasp as he reached up to grab his nose which was streaming blood, Elizabeth sat down in the car and slammed the door shut as she listened to Ron call to Fred.

'Put your foot down, Fred, let's get out of here.' yelled Ron and the car shot suddenly toward the moon and Elizabeth couldn't believe it, she was free.

She rolled down the window, the night air whipping her hair, and looked back at the shrinking rooftops of Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were all hanging, dumbstruck, out of Elizabeth's window.

'It'd be easier if you let me use the door,' Elizabeth yelled.

The Weasley's roared with laughter and Elizabeth settled back in her seat beaming at the Weasley's who had rescued her and said, lLet Hedwig out, she's been stuck in that cage for way too long.'

George handed the hairpin to Ron and, a moment later, Hedwig soared joyfully out of the window to glide alongside them like a ghost.

'So then, what's the story, Lizzie?' said Ron impatiently. 'What's been happening?'

Elizabeth told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given her about the conspiracy and the fiasco of the violet pudding. There was a long, shocked silence when she had finished.

'Very fishy,' said Fred finally.

'Definitely dodgy,' agreed George.

'So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?'

'I know it's his family, but I don't think he can name them,' said Elizabeth. 'I told you, every time he got close to telling me who he worked for he started banging his head against the wall.'

She saw Fred and George look at each other.

'What, you think he was lying to me?' said Elizabeth.

'Well,' said Fred, 'put it this way, house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission.'

'I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke.' Said George. 'Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?'

'Yes,' said Elizabeth and Ron together, instantly.

'Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy,' Elizabeth explained, 'they both hate me.'

'Draco Malfoy?' said George, turning around. 'Not Lucius Malfoy's son? And Pansy Parkinson? Not old Salazar Parkinson's daughter.'

'I've heard Dad talking about them,' said George. 'they were both big supporters of You-Know-Who.'

'And when You-Know-Who disappeared,' said Fred, craning around to look at Elizabeth, 'Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it and Salazar said that he'd been bewitched and his family held hostage. Load of dung, dad reckons they were both right in You-Know-Who's inner circle.'

Elizabeth had heard these rumours about Malfoys and Parkinson's families before and they didn't surprise her at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy, while spoilt rotten was an understatement where Pansy was concerned.

'Most old families would have house elves, but who would plot murder and mayhem?' Said Elizabeth.

'Well, it'll be one of the old rich families who support pureblood superiority and would most likely be knowledgeable of dark creatures or curses.' Said Fred and Elizabeth nodded solemnly as it seemed to make sense and so she sat back in her seat as she realized there wasn't much she could do for now.

'I'm glad we came to get you, anyway,' said Ron. 'I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters; I thought it was Errol's fault at first.'

'Who's Errol?'

'Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes.'

'_Who?_' Asked Elizabeth.

'The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect,' said Fred from the front. 'But Percy wouldn't lend him to me,' said Ron, 'Said he needed him.'

'Percy's been acting very oddly this summer,' said George, frowning. 'And he _has_ been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room…I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge…'

'You're driving too far west, Fred,' he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddled the steering wheel.

'So, does your dad know you've got the car?' Asked Elizabeth, guessing the answer.

'Err, no,' said Ron, 'he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it.'

Elizabeth smiled slightly as she guessed that the plan wouldn't work the way they thought, Mrs Weasley had seemed like a highly perceptive woman when Elizabeth had met her and was probably better than Filch at sniffing out trouble from her children, especially the twins.

'That's the main road," said George, peering down through the windshield. "We'll be there in ten minutes….Just as well, it's getting light….'

A faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east.

Fred brought the car lower, and Elizabeth saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees.

'We're a little way outside the village," said George. "Ottery St. Catchpole.'

The car steadily lost altitude as the sun rose and soon enough, "Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground. They had landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard, and Elizabeth looked out for the first time at Ron's house. It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigsty, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic, which, Elizabeth reminded herself, it probably was. Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance read, THE BURROW. Around the front door lay a jumble of Wellington boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.

'It's not much,' said Ron.

'It's _wonderful_,' said Elizabeth happily, thinking that while it was no Pemberley by any means it was a charming house with good people living in it and anywhere was better than Privet Drive. They got out of the car and walked towards the house as Fred outlined his plans.

'Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly,' said Fred, 'and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Elizabeth and no one need ever know we flew the car.'

Elizabeth silently guessed that it wasn't going to work and sure enough, a moment later.

'Right,' said Ron. "Come on, Lizzie, this way, Ginny's upstairs…..'

Ron had gone a nasty greenish colour, his eyes fixed on the house.

The other three wheeled around. Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a sabre-toothed tiger.

'_Ah_,' said Fred.

'Oh, dear,' said George.

'We are so…..Busted!' they finished together.

Mrs. Weasley came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing a flowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket.

'_So_,' she said.

'Morning, Mum,' said George, in what he clearly thought was a jaunty, winning voice.

'Have you any idea how worried I've been?' said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.

'Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to….'

All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage broke over them.

'_Beds empty! No note! Car gone, could have crashed, out of my mind with worry, did you care? Never, as long as I've lived, you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy._'

'Perfect Percy,' muttered Fred.

'YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!' yelled Mrs. Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. 'You could have _died_, you could have been _seen_, and you could have lost your father his _job_….'

It seemed to go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned on Elizabeth, who backed away.

'I'm very pleased to see you, Lizzie, dear,' she said. 'Come inside dear and have some breakfast.'

She turned and walked back into the house and Elizabeth, after a nervous glance at Ron, who nodded encouragingly, followed her. The kitchen was small and rather cramped, filled with all manner of books and things that Elizabeth had never seen before and a radio was playing in the background. Mrs. Weasley was clattering around, cooking breakfast a little haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw sausages into the frying pan. Every now and then, she muttered things like 'don't know _what_ you were thinking of,' and '_never_ would have believed it.'

' I don't blame _you_, dear,' she assured Elizabeth, tipping eight or nine sausages onto her plate.

'Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we would come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday. But really,' she was now adding three fried eggs to her plate.

'Flying an illegal car halfway across the country, anyone could have seen you.'

She flicked her wand casually at the dishes in the sink, which began to clean themselves, clinking gently in the background.

'It was _cloudy_, Mum!' said Fred.

'You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!' Mrs. Weasley snapped.

'They were starving her, Mum! We had to save her,' said George.

'And you!' said Mrs. Weasley, but it was with a slightly softened expression that she started cutting Elizabeth bread and buttering it for her. At that moment, there was a diversion as Ginny ambled sleepily into the room, noticed Elizabeth and squealed, 'Lizzie!' Ran over to her and hugged her before letting go and sitting down next to her. Ginny started gossiping merrily away about her summer as they all ate their breakfast and Elizabeth answered a lot of questions about Hogwarts as Ginny was due to begin her first year.

'_Blimey_, I'm tired,' yawned Fred, setting down his knife and fork at last. 'I think I'll go to bed and.'

'You will not,' snapped Mrs. Weasley. 'It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again.'

'Oh, Mum.'

'And you two,' she said, glaring at Ron and Fred. 'You head on upstairs dear, you never asked them to fly that wretched car.'

Elizabeth felt wide-awake and after Ginny led the way to her room where she quickly changed, came back down and volunteered to help the boys.

'That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject.'

And she pulled a heavy book from the stack on the mantelpiece. George groaned.

'Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden.'

Elizabeth looked at the cover of Mrs. Weasley's book. Written across it in fancy gold letters were the words _Gilderoy Lockhart's_ _Guide to Household Pests_. There was a big photograph on the front of a very good-looking wizard with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes, Elizabeth took one look at the photograph and immediately felt suspicious of the wizard depicted in it for some reason. Mrs. Weasley beamed down at him.

"Oh, he is marvellous," she said. 'He knows his household pests, all right; it's a wonderful book….'

'Mum _fancies_ him,' said Fred, in a very audible whisper.

'Don't be so ridiculous, Fred,' said Mrs. Weasley, her cheeks rather pink.

'All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect it.'

Yawning and grumbling, the Weasley's slouched outside with Elizabeth behind them. The garden was large, and in Elizabeth's eyes, exactly what a garden should be as the gardens around Privet drive had always seemed too artificial and did not seem to care for the surrounds at all, while these gardens seemed a lot nicer as they blended wonderfully with the Devonshire countryside surrounding them on all sides.

'Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know,' Elizabeth told Ron and the others as they crossed the lawn.

'Yeah, I've seen those things they think are gnomes,' said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush, 'like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods…'

There was a violent scuffling noise, the peony bush shuddered, and Ron straightened up. '_This_ is the real thing,' he said grimly.

'Gerroff me! Gerroff me!' squealed the gnome.

It was certainly nothing like Santa Claus. It was small and leathery looking, with a large, knobbly, bald head exactly like a potato. Ron held it at arm's length as it kicked out at him with its horny little feet; he grasped it around the ankles and turned it upside down.

'This is what you have to do,' he said. He raised the gnome above his head. 'Gerroff me!', and started to swing it in great circles like a lasso. Seeing the shocked look on Elizabeth's face, Ron added, 'It doesn't _hurt_ them, you've just got to make them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnomeholes.'

He let go of the gnome's ankles: It flew twenty feet into the air and landed with a thud in the field over the hedge.

'Pitiful,' said Fred. 'I bet I can get mine beyond that stump.'

Elizabeth learned quickly not to feel too sorry for the gnomes. She decided just to drop the first one she caught over the hedge, but the gnome, sensing weakness, sank its razor-sharp teeth into Elizabeth's finger and she had a hard job shaking it off, until.

'Wow, Lizzie that must've been fifty feet….'

The air was soon thick with flying gnomes.

'See, they're not too bright,' said George, seizing five or six gnomes at once.

'The moment they know the de-gnoming's going on they storm up to have a look. You'd think they'd have learned by now just to stay put.'

Soon, the crowd of gnomes in the field started walking away in a straggling line, their little shoulders hunched.

'They'll be back,' said Ron as they watched the gnomes disappear into the hedge on the other side of the field. 'They love it here….Dad's too soft with them; he thinks they're funny….'

Just then, the front door slammed.

'He's back!' said George. 'Dad's home!'

They hurried through the garden and back into the house.

Mr. Weasley was slumped in a kitchen chair with his glasses off and his eyes closed. He was a thin man, going bald, but the little hair he had was as red as any of his children's. He was wearing long green robes, which were dusty and travel-worn.

'What a night,' he mumbled, groping for the teapot as they all sat down around him. 'Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned….'

Mr. Weasley took a long gulp of tea and sighed.

'Find anything, Dad?' said Fred eagerly.

'All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle,' yawned Mr. Weasley. 'There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness….'

'Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?' said George.

'Just Muggle-baiting,' sighed Mr. Weasley. 'Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it….Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking, they'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face…But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe.'

'LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?'

Mrs. Weasley had appeared, holding a long poker like a sword. Mr. Weasley's eyes jerked open. He stared guiltily at his wife.

'C-cars, Molly, dear?'

'Yes, Arthur, cars,' said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes flashing. 'Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while _really_ he was enchanting it to make it _fly_.'

Mr. Weasley blinked.

'Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if,er, he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth….There's a loophole in the law, you'll find….As long as he wasn't _intending _to fly the car, the fact that the car _could_ fly wouldn't….'

'Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!' shouted Mrs. Weasley. 'Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Elizabeth arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!'

'Elizabeth?' said Mr. Weasley blankly. 'Elizabeth who?'

He looked around, saw Elizabeth, and jumped.

'Good lord, is it Elizabeth Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron's told us so much about…'

'_Your sons flew that car to Elizabeth's house and back last night!_' shouted Mrs. Weasley. 'What have you got to say about that, eh?'

'Did you really?' said Mr. Weasley eagerly. 'Did it go all right? I….I mean,' he faltered as sparks flew from Mrs. Weasley's eyes, 'that, that was very wrong, boys, very wrong indeed….'

'Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Elizabeth as Mrs. Weasley swelled like a bullfrog. "Come on, I'll show you my room.'

They slipped out of the kitchen and down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, which wound its way, zigzagging up through the house. Ginny joined them and they climbed two more flights until they reached a door with peeling paint and a small plaque on it, saying RONALD'S ROOM. Elizabeth stepped in, her head almost touching the sloping ceiling, and blinked. It was like walking into a furnace. Nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the walls, even the ceiling. Then Elizabeth realized that Ron had covered nearly every inch of the shabby wallpaper with posters of the same seven witches and wizards, all wearing bright orange robes, carrying broomsticks, and waving energetically.

'Your Quidditch team?' said Elizabeth.

'The Chudley Cannons,' said Ron, pointing at the orange bedspread, which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball. 'Ninth in the league.'

'And that is where they will stay, everyone knows the Harpies are way better, don't let him con you into supporting these losers Lizzie,' Piped Ginny.

Ron scowled at his sister and Elizabeth smiled at the byplay between them, and then turned to look at Ron, who was watching her almost nervously, as though waiting for her opinion.

'It's a bit small,' said Ron quickly. 'Not like that room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he's always banging on pipes and groaning….'

But Elizabeth, smiling widely, said, 'This is the one of the best houses I've ever been in.'

Ron's ears went pink.


	4. Chapter 4

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter 4: At Flourish and Blotts

Life at the Burrow was as different as possible from life on Privet Drive.

The Dursleys liked everything neat and ordered (and in Elizabeth's opinion dull) while the Weasley's house burst with the strange and unexpected and Elizabeth had never seen any house like it. Elizabeth got a shock the first time she looked in the mirror over the kitchen mantelpiece and it spoke, 'you look lovely dear.' making her blush profusely and the twins laugh at the look of shock on her face as they found her. The ghoul and the twins kept the surprises coming and Elizabeth soon felt curious whenever she didn't hear small explosions or the sounds of falling objects at least once a day.

What she found most unusual about life at Ron's, however, was not flattering talking mirrors or the clanking ghoul, it was the fact that everybody there seemed to like her and welcomed her presence among them. Mrs. Weasley fussed over the state of her and tried to make her eat far more than she usually would at every meal muttering her distaste of the Dursley's while Mr. Weasley liked Elizabeth to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard her with questions about life with Muggles.

'_Fascinating!_' he would say as Elizabeth talked him through using a telephone.

'_Ingenious_, really, how many ways Muggles have found of getting along without magic.'

Elizabeth heard from Hogwarts one sunny morning about a week after she had arrived at the Burrow. She went down to breakfast to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley already sitting at the kitchen table with Ginny. Ginny looked up and smiled brightly holding an opened Hogwarts letter and said.

'Lizzie! The Hogwarts letters are here! Finally.'

Ginny looked fit to burst with excitement, while her mother looked slightly sad as she gazed at her youngest child. Elizabeth sat down and took the toast Mrs. Weasley offered her.

'Here you are,' said Mr. Weasley, passing Elizabeth an identical envelope of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink to the one she had received on that fateful morning that changed her life forever.

'Dumbledore already knows you're here, Elizabeth, doesn't miss a trick, that man. You three've got them, too,' he added, as Ron, Fred and George ambled in, still in their pyjamas. For a few minutes, there was silence as they all read their letters. Elizabeth's told her the same instructions for boarding the train as last year, but the booklist was somewhat of a surprise as she gazed down the sheet of parchment.

SECOND-YEAR SUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

_The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 _by Miranda Goshawk

_Break with a Banshee_ by Gilderoy Lockhart

_Gadding with Ghouls_ by Gilderoy Lockhart

_Holidays with Hags _by Gilderoy Lockhart

_Travels with Trolls_ by Gilderoy Lockhart

_Voyages with Vampires _by Gilderoy Lockhart

_Wanderings with Werewolves _by Gilderoy Lockhart

_Year with the Yeti _by Gilderoy Lockhart

Fred, who had finished his own list, peered over at Elizabeth's.

'You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too Lizzie!' he said. 'The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan; I bet it's a witch.'

At this point, Fred caught his mother's eye and quickly busied himself with his breakfast

'That lot won't come cheap,' said George, with a quick look at his parents. 'Lockhart's books are really expensive….'

'Well, we'll manage,' said Mrs. Weasley, but she looked worried. 'I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things second hand.'

Elizabeth wished for the umpteenth time that she could do something for the Weasley's but knew they would never accept her charity, but at this point she was distracted as Percy walked into the room with an odd look of tranquillity on his face that and Elizabeth felt curious as Percy never usually looked as calm as he was.

'Morning, all,' said Percy briskly. 'Lovely day.'

He sat down in the only remaining chair but leapt up again almost immediately, pulling from underneath him a moulting, grey feather duster, at least, that was what Elizabeth thought it was, until she saw that it was breathing.

'Errol!' said Ron, taking the limp owl from Percy and extracting a letter from under its wing. '_Finally_, he's got Hermione and Jane's answer. I wrote to them saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys.'

He carried Errol to a perch just inside the back door and tried to stand him on it, but Errol flopped straight off again so Ron lay him on the draining board instead, muttering, 'Pathetic.'

Then he ripped open Hermione's letter and read it aloud:

_Dear Ron, and Elizabeth if you're there,_

_I hope everything went all right and that Lizzie is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get her out, because that would get her into trouble, too. We've been really worried and if Lizzie is all right, will you please let us know at once, but perhaps it would be better if you used a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off. Charlotte and Fitzwilliam both wrote and they are really worried as well and from their letter, about ready to smash her uncles door down, so once Lizzie's safe you should ask her to write to them and explain that she's okay. We've both been busy with schoolwork of course_

'How _can_ they be?' said Ron in horror. 'We're on holiday!'

Elizabeth shook her head at Ron and said, 'come on Ron, the sooner it's done the sooner you can relax. Besides, if you know more before the term starts, that's less studying to do while everybody else is stressed.'

Mr and Mrs Weasley and Percy all nodded approvingly at her words, while Ron shrugged and kept reading aloud.

_And we're going to London next Wednesday to buy our new books as Charlotte said she and Maria would be there then as well. Why don't we all meet in Diagon Alley?_"'_Let us know what's happening as soon as you can, love from Hermione and Jane._

'Well, that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too,' said Mrs. Weasley, starting to clear the table.

'What're you all up to today?'

Elizabeth spoke up and said, 'I should probably write to Charlotte and Fitzwilliam and let them know where I am.'

So Elizabeth found a desk and wrote letters to them both telling them about Dobby and what he had done and had said before sending Hedwig off. Later on she and the others all walked up to the fields surrounding the Burrow to play Quidditch after Elizabeth had convinced them to let Ginny play, they had asked Percy to join them but he claimed to be busy with work. Elizabeth had only seen Percy at mealtimes so far; he stayed shut in his room the rest of the time and while she didn't think he was doing anything bad she did wonder what was going on as he always had a calm and often serene look about his face.

'Wish I knew what he was up to,' said Fred, frowning.

'He's not himself. His exam results came the day before we went to rescue you; twelve O.W.L.s and he hardly gloated at all.'

'Bill got twelve, too. If we're not careful, we'll have another Head Boy in the family. I don't think I could stand the shame.' George muttered.

Elizabeth smiled and said to the others, 'somebody has to do it, might as well be him, and at least his serene mood might make him a bit less stiff in the job.'

Ginny giggled and said, 'He looks like he's in love.'

The others laughed and they all kept going and spent a happy afternoon practising Quidditch Ginny surprising everyone except Elizabeth who knew of her talents before the sun began to sink. Mrs. Weasley woke them all early the following Wednesday and after a quick breakfast, they pulled on their coats and Mrs. Weasley took a flowerpot off the kitchen mantelpiece and peered inside.

'We're running low, Arthur,' she sighed. 'We'll have to buy some more today… Ah well, guests first! After you, Lizzie dear!'

And she offered her the flowerpot.

Elizabeth swallowed and said, 'Is that floo powder? I know how it works but I've never actually used it before.'

'She'll be all right, Mum,' said Fred. 'Lizzie, watch us first.'

He took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire, and threw the powder into the flames. With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred, who stepped right into it, shouted, 'Diagon Alley!" and vanished.

"You must speak clearly, dear," Mrs. Weasley told Elizabeth as George dipped his hand into the flowerpot. "And be sure to get out at the right grate….'

"She'll be fine, Molly, don't fuss," said Mr. Weasley, helping himself to Floo powder, too.

"But, dear, if she got lost, how would we ever explain to her aunt and uncle?"

'They wouldn't mind,' Elizabeth reassured her. 'Dudley would think it was a brilliant joke if I got lost up a chimney, and I doubt uncle Vernon would care much either.'

'Well… all right…you go after Arthur, then dear,' said Mrs. Weasley. 'Now, when you get into the fire, say where you're going.'

'And keep your elbows tucked in," Ron advised.

'And your eyes shut,' said Mrs. Weasley. 'The soot.'

'Don't fidget," said Ron. 'Or you might well fall out of the wrong fireplace. But don't panic and get out too early; wait until you see Fred and George.'

Trying hard to bear all this in mind, Elizabeth took a pinch of Floo powder and walked to the edge of the fire. She took a deep breath, scattered the powder into the flames, and stepped forward; the fire felt warm but did not burn her and she opened her mouth and immediately swallowed a lot of hot ash. 'D-Dia-gon Alley,' she coughed.

It felt as though he was being sucked into a whirlpool as she began to spin while the roaring in her ears was deafening, she tried to keep her eyes open but the whirl of green flames made her feel sick and she closed them and something hard knocked her elbow and she tucked it in tightly, onwards she spun and she wondered how much further she had to go and wished it would stop and soon found her wish granted as she flew out of a hearth, rolled from the momentum and found herself lying flat on her back on a cold stone floor. Dizzy and bruised, covered in soot, she got gingerly to her feet, feeling her knees tremble, she was quite alone, but _where_ she was, she had no idea. All she could tell was that she was standing inside what looked like a large, dimly lit wizard's shop, but nothing in here was ever likely to be on a Hogwarts school list. A glass case nearby held a withered hand on a cushion, a bloodstained pack of cards, and a staring glass eye. Evil-looking masks stared down from the walls, an assortment of human bones lay upon the counter, and rusty, spiked instruments hung from the ceiling that looked like the contents of an inquisition era torture chamber. Even worse if that was possible, the dark, narrow street Elizabeth could see through the dusty shop window was definitely not Diagon Alley. The sooner she got out of here, the better Elizabeth though and she also thought that it wouldn't be a good thing to be recognized and so Elizabeth screwed up her face in concentration and changed her hair to a short black curly style and her eyes to grey hoping the soot would obscure her scar and made her way swiftly and silently toward the door hoping the shopkeeper didn't find her, but before she'd got halfway toward it, four people appeared on the other side of the glass, and two of them were the very last people Elizabeth wanted to meet when she was lost and covered in soot, Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy. Elizabeth looked quickly around, spotted a large black cabinet to her left, quickly got inside, and pulled the door as far as it would go without actually closing. Seconds later, a bell clanged, and Malfoy stepped into the shop. The men who followed could only be Draco and Pansy's fathers. Mr Malfoy had the same pale, pointed face and identical cold, grey eyes as his son while Mr Parkinson was much shorter and fatter with the same pug like face as his daughter. Mr. Malfoy crossed the shop, looking lazily at the items on display, and a rang a bell on the counter before turning to his son and say, 'Touch nothing, Draco.'

Malfoy, who had reached for the glass eye, said, 'I thought you were going to buy me a present.'

'I said I would buy you a racing broom,' said his father, drumming his fingers on the counter.

'What's the good of that if I'm not on the House team?" said Malfoy, looking sulky and bad-tempered. "Elizabeth Potter got a Nimbus Two Thousand last year. Special permission from Dumbledore so she could play for Gryffindor. She's not even that good, it's just because she's _famous_…famous for having a stupid _scar_ on her forehead….'

Pansy looked slavishly at Draco and added in, 'not to mention that she has no proper pride, she stands up for the weak and undeserving and stands against those who would see this world made better.'

Draco smiled and nodded approvingly at Pansy and Elizabeth thought nastily that the two of them deserved each other.

'…Everyone thinks she's so _smart_, wonderful _Potter_, with her _scar_ and her _broomstick_.' Drawled Draco.

'…..She has no sense of what's right for the world and is a blatant teachers pet.' Sneered Pansy.

'You have both told me this at least a dozen times already," said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son and Pansy. "And I would remind you that it is not—prudent—to appear less than fond of Elizabeth Potter, not when most of our kind regard her as the heroine who made the Dark Lord disappear, ah, Mr. Borgin.'

A stooping man had appeared behind the counter, smoothing his greasy hair back from his face.

'Mr. Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you again, and you Mr Parkinson, always good to do business with a true connoisseur.'

Said Mr. Borgin in a voice as oily as his hair, 'delighted to see you both—and young master Malfoy and miss Parkinson, too, charmed. How may I be of assistance? I simply must show you both, just in today, and very reasonably priced….'

'We are not buying today, Mr. Borgin, but selling,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'Selling?' The smile faded slightly from Mr. Borgin's face.

'You have heard, of course, that the Ministry is conducting more raids.' Said Mr. Malfoy, taking a roll of parchment from his inside pocket and unravelling it for Mr. Borgin to read. 'I have a few, ah, items at home that might embarrass me, if the Ministry were to call…. And Salazar also has a few items that would be better kept away from prying ministry eyes.'

Mr Parkinson nodded, pulled a scroll from his pocket and laid it next to Malfoy's and Mr. Borgin fixed a pair of pince-nez to his nose and looked down the lists laid on his counter. 'The Ministry wouldn't presume to trouble you both, surely? Asked Borgin.

Mr. Malfoy's lip curled and Mr Parkinson's eyes narrowed. 'I have not been visited yet, the name Malfoy still commands a certain respect, yet the Ministry grows ever more meddlesome. There are rumours about a new Muggle Protection Act, no doubt that flea-bitten, muggle-loving fool Arthur Weasley is behind it.'

And Mr Parkinson added, 'Luckily for me, Delores was kind enough to send an owl in time for me to secrete most of the items the fool was looking for and ask Malfoy to help with the others.'

Elizabeth felt a hot surge of anger at the words of the two men, 'and so here we are.'

'I understand, sir, of course,' said Mr. Borgin. 'Let me see…'

'Can I have _that_?' interrupted Draco, pointing at the withered hand on its cushion.

'Ah, the Hand of Glory!' said Mr. Borgin, abandoning Mr. Malfoy's list and scurrying over to Draco.

'Insert a candle and it gives light only to the holder! Best friend of thieves and plunderers! Your son has fine taste, sir.'

'I hope my son will amount to more than a thief or a plunderer, Borgin,' said Mr. Malfoy coldly, and Mr. Borgin said quickly, 'No offence, sir, no offence meant.' Said Borgin, noticing the look on the elder Malfoy's face.

'Though if his grades don't pick up,' said Mr. Malfoy, more coldly still, 'that may indeed be all he is fit for.'

'It's not my fault,' retorted Draco. 'The teachers all have favourites, that Hermione Granger.'

'Is an even worse teacher's pet than Potter and a complete suck up, and that sister of hers, ugh,' added Pansy.

Elizabeth felt her anger get even worse and felt the glow begin to form and the heat in the room begin to rise slowly.

'I would have thought you'd both be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam,' snapped Mr. Malfoy.

'And if you had taken notice of something other than fashion and make up you might have done better than that filthy half blood you seen obsessed with,' glared Mr Parkinson.

'Ha!' said Elizabeth under her breath, pleased to see Draco looking both abashed and angry and Pansy look sulky as she felt herself calming slightly.

'It's the same all over,' said Mr. Borgin, in his oily voice. 'Wizard blood is counting for less everywhere.'

'Not with me,' said Mr. Malfoy, his long nostrils flaring.

'Nor me,' said Mr Parkinson, 'still, our little scheme should soon show them all that their days are numbered.'

Mr Malfoy smiled in a rather nasty way but said, 'Perhaps Parkinson, this is not the best place for this, while Mr Borgin is sympathetic to our cause it would be best to save discussion on the topic for the next closed meeting of our brethren.'

Mr Parkinson nodded and said, 'yes, perhaps.'

'In that case, perhaps we can return to my list,' said Mr. Malfoy shortly. 'I am in something of a hurry, Borgin, I have important business elsewhere today.'

The three men started to haggle. Elizabeth watched nervously as Draco and Pansy drew nearer and nearer to her hiding place, examining the objects for sale. Draco paused to examine a long coil of hangman's rope and to read, smirking, the card propped on a magnificent necklace of opals, _Caution: Do Not Touch. Cursed_, _Has Claimed the Lives of Nineteen Muggle Owners to Date._

Whilst Pansy smiled nastily at an ornate mirror that also bore a card, which read. _Caution: Do Not Gaze Into the Mirror for Long Periods, Has Claimed the Lives of Over 1000 People to Date._

Draco turned away and saw the cabinet right in front of him. He walked forward—he stretched out his hand for the handle, 'Done,' said Mr. Malfoy at the counter. 'Come, Draco, Pansy.'

Elizabeth felt relieved as Pansy and Draco walked away.

'Good day to you, Mr. Borgin. I'll expect you at the manor tomorrow to pick up our goods.'

The moment the door had closed, Mr. Borgin dropped his oily manner. 'Good day yourself, _Mister_ Malfoy and _Mister _Parkinson, and if the stories are true, neither of you have sold me half of what's hidden in your _manors_….'

Muttering darkly, Mr. Borgin disappeared into a back room. Elizabeth waited for a minute in case he came back, then, quietly as she could, slipped out of the cabinet, past the glass cases, and out of the shop door.

Elizabeth stared around; she had emerged into a dingy alleyway that seemed to be made up entirely of shops devoted to the Dark Arts. The one she'd just left, Borgin and Burkes, looked like the largest, but opposite was a nasty window display of shrunken heads and, two doors down, a large cage was alive with gigantic black spiders. Two shabby-looking wizards were watching her from the shadow of a doorway, muttering to each other. Feeling jumpy, Elizabeth set off, hoping against hope she would be able to find a way out of here. An old wooden street sign hanging over a shop selling poisonous candles told him she was in Knockturn Alley. Elizabeth felt her heart race, if half of what she'd heard was true, the sooner she got out of there the better. She guessed she hadn't spoken clearly enough through her mouthful of ashes back in the Weasley's fire. Trying to stay calm, she wondered which way was out,

'Not lost are you, little girl?' said a voice in her ear, making her jump. An aged witch stood in front of her, holding a tray of what looked horribly like whole human fingernails.

She leered at her, showing mossy teeth, and Elizabeth backed away.

'I'm fine, thanks,' she said. 'I'm just.'

'LIZZIE! What d'yeh think yer doin' down there? Have yeh lost all sense?'

Elizabeth's heart leapt, so did the witch; a load of fingernails cascaded down over her feet and she cursed as the massive bear like form of Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, came striding toward them, beetle-black eyes flashing over his great bristling beard.

'Hagrid!' Elizabeth croaked in relief. 'I was lost….Floo powder; I went off course and came out of the wrong fireplace.'

Hagrid seized Elizabeth by the waist and pulled her away from the old witch, knocking the tray right out of her hands. Her shrieks followed them all they way along the twisting alleyway and back into the familiar surrounds of Diagon Alley, the sunlight had never looked so glorious to Elizabeth in that moment.

'Yer a mess! And what have yeh done to your face?' Said Hagrid gruffly, brushing soot off Elizabeth so forcefully he nearly knocked her sprawling into a foul smelling barrel sitting outside the shop they were passing by. Elizabeth willed her hair and eyes back to normal as Hagrid continued… 'Skulkin' around Knockturn Alley, I dunno, dodgy place, Lizzie, don' want no one ter see yeh down there."'

'I realized _that_,' said Elizabeth, ducking as Hagrid made to brush her off again.

'I told you, I went off course in the floo, but why were you down there then?'

'_I_ was lookin' fer a Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent,' growled Hagrid. 'They're ruinin' the school cabbages.'

'Yer not on yer own?' Hagrid asked as they walked along.

'I'm staying with the Weasleys but we got separated,' Elizabeth explained. 'I've got to go and find them…'

'How come yeh never wrote back ter me?' said Hagrid as Elizabeth jogged alongside him, Elizabeth explained all about Dobby and the Dursleys.

'Lousy Muggles,' growled Hagrid. 'If I'd've known, I'd have stopped them.'

'Lizzie! Lizzie! Over here!'

Elizabeth looked up and saw her three best friends, Hermione and Jane Granger standing at the top of the white flight of steps to Gringotts besides Charlotte McGonagall. They all ran down to meet her and Hagrid, Hermione's bushy brown hair flying behind her, as both twins and Charlotte hugged Elizabeth tightly.

'Lizzie are you alright? What happened, why didn't you write back?' Jane asked curiously.

'Hello, Hagrid, Oh, it's _wonderful_ to see you two again, are you coming into Gringotts, Lizzie?' said Hermione.

'As soon as I've found the Weasleys,' said Elizabeth.

'Yeh won't have long ter wait,' Hagrid said with a grin.

Elizabeth, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione looked around: Sprinting up the crowded street were Ron, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley.

'Lizzie,' Mr. Weasley panted. 'We _hoped_ you'd only gone one grate too far….' He mopped his glistening bald patch. Molly's frantic, she's coming now.'

'Where did you come out?' Ron asked.

'Knockturn Alley,' said Hagrid grimly.

'_Excellent!_' said Fred and George together.

'We've never been allowed in,' said Ron enviously.

'I should ruddy well think not,' growled Hagrid.

Mrs. Weasley now came galloping into view, her handbag swinging wildly in one hand, Ginny just clinging onto the other.

'Oh, Lizzie, oh, my dear girl, you could have been anywhere.'

Gasping for breath she pulled a large clothes brush out of her bag and began sweeping off the soot Hagrid hadn't managed to beat away.

'Well, gotta be off,' said Hagrid, who was having his hand wrung by Mrs. Weasley

'Knockturn Alley! If you hadn't found her, Hagrid!'

'See yeh all at Hogwarts!' And he strode away, head and shoulder taller than anyone else in the packed street.

'Guess who I saw in Borgin and Burkes?' Elizabeth asked her friends as they climbed the Gringotts steps. 'Malfoy, Pansy and their fathers.'

'Did Lucius Malfoy or Salazar Parkinson buy anything?' said Mr. Weasley sharply behind them.

'No, they were selling, but apparently Salazar got tipped off by somebody called Delores.'

'So they're worried,' said Mr. Weasley with grim satisfaction. 'Oh, I'd love to get Lucius Malfoy or Salazar Parkinson for something, and Delores, you sure you heard right Lizzie?'

Elizabeth nodded. 'You be careful, Arthur,' said Mrs. Weasley sharply as they were bowed into the bank by a goblin at the door. 'Those families' are trouble. Don't go biting off more than you can chew.'

'So you don't think I'm a match for Lucius Malfoy or Salazar?'said Mr. Weasley indignantly, but he was distracted almost at once by the sight of Hermione and Jane's parents, who were standing nervously at the counter that ran all along the great marble hall, waiting for their daughters to introduce them.

'But you're _Muggles_!' said Mr. Weasley delightedly. 'We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle money. Molly, look!' He pointed excitedly at the ten-pound notes in Dr. Granger's hand.

'Meet you back here,' Ron said to Hermione, Jane and Charlotte as the Weasley's and Elizabeth were led off to their underground vaults by another Gringotts goblin. Elizabeth enjoyed the breakneck journey down to the Weasleys' vault, as the speed, twists, and turns reminded her a lot of Quidditch but felt awful when it was opened. Elizabeth felt even worse when they reached her vault. She tried to block the contents from view as she hastily shoved handfuls of coins into a leather bag, but felt like it was a futile gesture as the pile of riches looked exactly the same size as the previous year. Back outside on the marble steps, they all separated to go and do their shopping with each Weasley heading to different destinations.

'We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks,' said Mrs. Weasley, setting off with Ginny. 'And not one step down Knockturn Alley!' she shouted at the twins' retreating backs.

Elizabeth, Ron, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street. The bag of gold, silver, and bronze jangling cheerfully in Elizabeth's pocket was clamouring to be spent, so she bought herself and her friends ice cream before they all began looking at the various window displays full of wondrous goods and then going off to buy their supplies for the coming year. A short while later in a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply boring book called: '_Prefects Who Gained Power A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers_,' Ron read aloud off the back cover. 'That sounds _fascinating_….'

'Go away,' Percy snapped.

'Course, he's very ambitions, Percy, he's got it all planned out…. He wants to be Minister of Magic…'

'A worthy goal to be sure, as long as his desire for power does not consume him.' said Charlotte sagely and Elizabeth and the Granger twins murmured their agreement while Ron remained silent.

They made their way towards Florish and Blotts and Elizabeth noticed that they were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop, as they approached it; they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a larger banner stretched across the upper windows: GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography

MAGICAL ME, today 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

'We can actually meet him!' Hermione squealed. 'I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!'

The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age and a harassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, 'Calmly, please, ladies…. Don't push, there…mind the books, now….'

Elizabeth, Ron, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione squeezed inside. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 _and sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with the Dr's Granger, Hector, and Maria McGonagall, Charlottes younger sister who smiled brightly at Elizabeth and said.

'Hi Lizzie! Good to see you again, talk about a madhouse, I've never seen this place so packed.'

Mrs Weasley came up to them and said 'Oh, there you all are, good,' said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. 'We'll be able to see him in a minute….'

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surround by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd, and Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the pictures as again she got the feeling that not all was as it seemed.

Charlotte looked at her and said, 'what is it Lizzie?'

Elizabeth looked at her and at the real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair and whispered.

'Something's not right about him; he looks too good to be true if you know what I mean.'

Charlotte nodded and said, 'Mum isn't a fan, she told me he always likes to talk big but she never saw any real evidence of his reputation, and looking at him I think she's right.'

Maria agreed with her sister and they stood around chatting while a short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

'Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the _Daily Prophet_.'

'Big deal,' said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron—and then he saw Elizabeth.

He stared at her and then he leapt up to his feet and positively shouted, 'It _can't_ be Elizabeth Potter?'

The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized Elizabeth's arm, and pulled her to the front.

The crowd burst into applause. Elizabeth's face burned as Lockhart shook her hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over the Weasley's.

'Nice big smile, Elizabeth," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page.'

When he finally let go of Elizabeth's hand, Elizabeth could hardly feel her fingers. She tried to sidle back over to the Weasleys, but Lockhart threw an arm around her shoulders and clamped her tightly to his side.

'Ladies and gentlemen,' he said loudly, waving for quiet. 'What an extraordinary moment this is. The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!'

'When young Elizabeth here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, she only wanted to buy my autobiography-which I shall be happy to present to her now, free of charge.' The crowd applauded again. 'That she would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me_. She and her schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September; I will be taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!'

The crowd cheered and clapped and Elizabeth found herself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, she managed to make her way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny and Maria were standing next to their new cauldrons.

'You have these,' Elizabeth said to Ginny, tipping the books into the cauldron. 'I'll buy my own.'

'Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?' said a voice Elizabeth had no trouble recognizing. She straightened up and found herself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, both of whom wore their usual scowls.

'_Famous_ Elizabeth Potter,' said Malfoy. 'Can't even go into a _bookshop_ without making the front page.'

'Are you that much of a gold digger potter, to go after that strutting peacock of a man, sneered Pansy. I didn't think even you were that desperate.'

'Leave her alone, she didn't want all that! Besides, you're one to talk about digging for gold Parkinson.' shouted a new voice with a hint of steel in it and Elizabeth watched as Fitzwilliam arrived leading his little sister Georgiana who shyly smiled at Elizabeth.

'Potter, you've got yourself a _boyfriend_! And a Longbottom to boot,' drawled Malfoy.

Elizabeth went scarlet, as Ron Jane, Charlotte and Hermione all fought their way over clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.

'Oh, it's you,' said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe.

'Bet you're surprised to see Elizabeth here, eh?'

'Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley,' retorted Malfoy. 'I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for that lot.'

Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, too, and started toward Malfoy, but Elizabeth and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket.

'Ron!' said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. 'What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside.'

'Well, well, well—Arthur Weasley.'

'Weasley.'

It was Mr. Malfoy and Mr Parkinson, 'Lucius, Salazar' said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

'Busy time at the Ministry, I hear,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'All those raids…I hope they're paying you overtime?'

He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration._

'Obviously not,' Mr. Malfoy said. 'Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?'

'Or maybe they would if you actually caught somebody in possession of the goods you were looking for,' added Mr Parkinson.

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

'We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy, and as for missing goods; perhaps corruption has played a part in that Parkinson.'

Elizabeth noticed Salazar's hand twitch slightly as if he was thinking of drawing his wand.

'Clearly,' said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to the Dr's Granger, who were watching apprehensively. 'The company you keep, Weasley…and I thought your family could sink no lower.'

'Yeh'd be the one tae ken all aboot sinking lower Malfoy, Lord knows what Abraxous must be thinking noo,' roared Hector, as he walked over to the scene unfolding between the two groups. There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. While Hector from beside him let out a stream of Gaelic that nobody could translate and threw a massive uppercut at Salazar catching on the jaw and sending him flying. Dozens of heavy spellbooks began falling around them and there was a yell of, 'Get him, Dad!' from Fred or George; Maria and Charlotte both began calling out in Gaelic urging their father on by the tone of it, while Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, 'No, Arthur, Hector! No!'

The crowd stampeded out of the way of the fight, knocking more shelves over; 'Gentlemen, please, please!' cried the assistant, and then, louder than all 'Break it up, there, gents, break it up…'

Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant, he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart, pulled up a dazed Mr Parkinson, and set him on his feet. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an _Encyclopaedia of Toadstools_. While Mr Parkinson looked the worst, with two black eyes a broken nose and several missing teeth, whilst Hector looked like he hadn't been touched. Mr Malfoy was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

'Here, girl, take your book, it's the best your father can give you.'

Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip, he beckoned to Draco and Pansy, grabbed the still dazed Salazar and swept from the shop.

'Yeh should've ignored him Arthur, and Hector, yeh could've killed him like that,' said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes.

'Rotten ter the core, all of em, everyone knows that, no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter. Nor no Parkinson, bad blood, that's what it is, come on now, let's get outta here.'

The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.

'A _fine_ example to set for your children…_brawling_ in public…_what _Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought, and as for you Hector, I thought you knew better than that.'

'Lockhart was pleased,' said Fred. 'Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the _Daily Prophet_ if he'd be able to work the fight into his report, said it was all publicity. Besides, Parkinson deserved that, that was awesome Sir'

Hector grinned at the boys and Elizabeth and said, 'aye, well I probably shouldnae have doon that, but I've had a score tae settle with Salazar fer years, so he had it coming.'

But overall, it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Elizabeth, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be travelling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said good-bye to the Grangers, who were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side; Mr. Weasley started to ask them how bus stops worked, but stopped quickly at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face, and as Elizabeth looked at the bright green flames for the second time in her life she concluded that it wasn't her favourite means of travel.


	5. Chapter 5

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: Looks like I spoke too soon about the crazy site administrators situation being over. Censorship like what they are planning will not work, it was tried back in the 60's and it did not work then and it definitely won't work now. If any site administrators are reading this, I urge you to look the details up of the Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial in the UK, as that more or less ended the practice of banning books. But back to my fic, it was a nice vote of confidence so see the good reception it got._

Chapter 5 the Whomping Willow

The end of the holidays came too quickly for Elizabeth's liking, she was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but her month living with the Weasley's had been the happiest of her life. She felt envious of Ron that he had such a loving home to come to compared to what was likely waiting for her when she went back to Privet Drive, especially after she broke her uncle's nose. On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of Elizabeth's favourites. Fred and George rounded off the evening with entertainment consisting of most of the fireworks they had bought in Diagon alley and a prank on Percy that made him sing muggle romantic music, which left Elizabeth and Ginny breathless for giggling as it turned out that Percy's singing voice could be used as a riot control weapon. It took a long while to get started next morning. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills and people kept colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands. Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car. Elizabeth wasn't sure, how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia; at least she wasn't until Mr Weasley explained that the car had been enchanted.

'Not a word to Molly,' he whispered to Elizabeth as he opened the trunk and showed her how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.

When at last they were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Elizabeth, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side, and said, 'Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?'

Mrs Weasley got into the front passenger seat, still looking disapprovingly at the car while Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Elizabeth turning back for a last look at the house. She barely had time to wonder when she'd see it again when they were back as George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks and Elizabeth urged the others to try and think if they'd forgotten anything else and Fred quickly brought his broomstick and Ginny, her diary. London was a fair way from the burrow and despite Elizabeth saving some time they were still running late Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife.

'Molly, dear …'

'No, Arthur, the statute of secrecy was enacted for a reason.'

'No one would see , this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed , that'd get us up in the air, then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser.'

'I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight.'

They reached King's Cross-with fifteen minutes to go, Mr Weasley hurried to find trolleys for their luggage, and they all hurried into the packed train station. Elizabeth had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The only tricky part in doing this was getting through the barrier unobserved by passing muggle commuters and so the Weasley's looked around the surrounds and Mrs Weasley began to send them through one at a time.

'Percy first,' said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier. Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed without incident.

'I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us,' Mrs. Weasley told Elizabeth and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were both gone.

'Let's go together, we've only got a minute,' Ron said to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth made sure that Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled her trolley around to face the barrier. She felt perfectly confident; this wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo powder and she'd done this twice before. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and

CRASH.

Both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron's trunk fell off with a loud thump, Elizabeth was knocked off her feet and people around them began noticing them and they had to talk their way out when an irate guard came running.

'Why can't we get through?' Ron hissed to Elizabeth. Elizabeth thought for a second and then it clicked, "Dobby! That little scoundrel's gone and warded the barrier to stop me going through.'

Ron looked wildly around. A dozen curious people were still watching them.

'Shoot! We'll never undo it in time, even if we knew how; Bill told me even basic wards can take a few minutes at least to break.'

Elizabeth added in. 'That's human magic Ron, house elf magic's different.'

Elizabeth looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds… nine seconds…She wheeled her trolley forward cautiously until it was right against the barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid.

Three seconds… two seconds… one second…

'It's gone,' said Ron, sounding stunned.' The train's left. What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us?'

'Have you got any Muggle money?'

Elizabeth gave a hollow laugh, 'The Dursleys, hah! Not for years.

Ron pressed his ear to the cold barrier.

'Can't hear a thing,' he said tensely, 'What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take Mum and Dad to get back to us.'

Elizabeth quickly said, 'Well, they can't apparate out, the platforms warded against it.'

They looked around. People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwig's continuing screeches.

'I think we'd better go and wait by the car Ron,' said Elizabeth. 'We're attracting too much attention from the muggles….'

'Lizzie! That's it!' said Ron, his eyes gleaming. 'The car!'

'What about it?'

'We can fly the car to Hogwarts!'

'Are you mad? The Statute of secrecy is there for a reason, if they catch us we're dead.'

'We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy ….'

'But your Mum and Dad…' said Elizabeth, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. 'You remember what happened when you saved me.'

'We're stuck, and so are they and we can't stay here, so I'll say it was my idea when it's found out, besides we can't send a message, there's too many muggles to let Hedwig out, your panic buttons been broken and if we stay here any longer the please men might get us.'

Elizabeth's brow furrowed, 'please men?'

Ron said, 'You know, the muggles who go around and catch criminals.'

Elizabeth smiled and said, 'Oh, you mean policemen, yes, good point. Alright then, but I still think this isn't a good idea, can you fly it?'

'No, problem,' said Ron, wheeling his trolley around to face the exit. 'C'mon, let's go. If we hurry, we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express.'

And they marched off through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked.

Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back seat, and got into the front. Elizabeth checked Hedwig's cage and to her horror found that the door had been sealed and quickly thought that Dobby must have gone even further than she thought to stop her and quickly said.

'Oh no, Hedwig's been sealed in her cage, looks like we really do have no other option.'

'Why's he doing this? What could be so bad to make him do this? '

Elizabeth had no answer to this and Ron spoke again. 'Check that no one's watching,' starting the ignition with another tap of his wand. Elizabeth stuck her head out of the window: Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was empty.'

'Coasts clear go now,' she said.

Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished and so did they.

'Let's go,' said Ron's voice from her right. And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them.

Then there was a popping noise and the car, Elizabeth, and Ron reappeared.

'Uh-oh,' said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. 'It's faulty.

Both of them pummelled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back again.

'Get into the clouds! We'll be seen if we stay this low,' screamed Elizabeth.

'Hold on!' Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator; they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy.

'We need to find which direction to go," said Elizabeth", "dip back down again, quickly.'

They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their seats, squinting at the ground.

'I see it!' Elizabeth yelled. 'Right there!'

The Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet snake.

'Due north,' said Ron, checking the compass on the dashboard. 'Okay, we'll just have to check on it every half hour or so, hold on we're going up.'

And they shot up through the clouds. A minute later, they burst out into a blaze of sunlight. It was a different world. The wheels of the car skimmed the sea of fluffy cloud, the sky a bright, endless blue under the blinding white sun.

'All we've got to worry about now are airplanes,' said Ron.'

They looked at each other and started to laugh; for a long time, they couldn't stop. It was as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream. This, thought Elizabeth, was surely the only way to travel, past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment and the thought of writing a new page in famous escapades to rival that of the twins. They made regular checks on the train as they flew farther and farther north, each dip beneath the clouds showing them a different view. London was soon far behind them, replaced by neat green fields that gave way in turn to wide, purplish moors, a great city alive with cars like multicoloured ants, villages with tiny toy churches. Several uneventful hours later, however, Elizabeth had to admit that some of the fun was wearing off. The toffees had made them extremely thirsty and they had nothing to drink. What was so bad that Dobby would be so desperate to stop her getting to Hogwarts and go so far in his desire as to ward the platform and Hedwig to prevent her leaving London?

'Can't be much further, can it?' croaked Ron, hours later still, as the sun started to sink into their floor of cloud, staining it a deep pink. 'Ready for another check on the train?'

It was still right below them, winding its way past a snow-capped mountain. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds. Ron put his foot on the accelerator and drove them upward again, but as he did so, the engine began to whine. Elizabeth and Ron exchanged nervous glances.

'Get us down as soon as you can Ron, I don't like this.' Elizabeth said with a slight hint of fear in her voice.

'It's probably just tired,' said Ron.' It's never been this far before…'

And they both pretended not to notice the whining growing louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker. Stars were blossoming in the blackness.

'Not far,' said Ron, more to the car than to Elizabeth, 'not far now,' and he patted the dashboard nervously. When they flew back beneath the clouds a little while later, they had to squint through the darkness for a landmark they knew.

'There it is!' Elizabeth shouted, making Ron and Hedwig jump. 'Straight ahead! Lose some altitude'

Silhouetted on the dark horizon, high on the cliff over the lake stood the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle. However, as Ron began to bring the car down, the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.

'Come on,' Ron said cajolingly, giving the steering wheel a little shake, 'nearly there, come on.'

The engine groaned. Narrow jets of steam were issuing from under the hood. Elizabeth found herself gripping the edges of her seat very hard as they flew toward the lake.

The car gave a nasty wobble. Glancing out of her window, Elizabeth saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, still far below. Ron's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The car wobbled again.

'Come on,' Ron muttered.

They were over the lake, the castle was right ahead, Ron put his foot down and turned towards a stretch of lawn, but at that moment, there was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.

'Uh-oh,' said Ron, into the silence. The nose of the car dropped and turned back towards the castle. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall.

'Noooooo!' Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time, Elizabeth screaming as they fell. Ron let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of his back pocket.

'STOP! STOP!' he yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up toward them. Ron, the tree! Elizabeth shouted, lunging for the steering wheel, but too late, CRUNCH. With an ear-splitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt. Steam was billowing from under the crumpled hood; Hedwig was shrieking in terror; a golf ball-size lump was throbbing on Elizabeth's head where she had hit the windshield and to her right, Ron let out a low, despairing groan.

'Are you okay?' Elizabeth said urgently.

My wand,' said Ron, in a shaky voice. 'Look at my wand'

It had snapped, almost in two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters. Elizabeth opened her mouth to say he should be grateful they were still ok, but she never even got to utter another word, as in that split second something hit her side of the car with the force of a charging bull, sending her lurching sideways into Ron, just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.

'Oh no, of all the trees we could have hit…..'

Ron gasped, staring through the windshield, and Elizabeth looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled boughs were pummelling every inch of the car it could reach.

'Aaargh!' said Ron as another twisted limb punched a large dent into his door; the windshield was now trembling under a hail of blows from knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving in.

'Run for it Lizzy! 'Ron shouted and threw his full weight against his door, but next second he had been knocked backward into Elizabeth's lap by a vicious uppercut from another branch.

'We're done for!' he moaned as the ceiling sagged, but suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating, the engine had restarted.

'Reverse!' Elizabeth yelled, and the car shot backward; the tree was still trying to hit them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.

'That,' panted Ron, 'was too close. Well done, car.'

The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and Elizabeth felt her seat tip sideways: Next thing she knew she was sprawled on the damp ground. Loud thuds told him that the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk; Hedwig's cage flew through the air and burst open; she rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.

'Come back!' Ron yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand. 'Dad'll kill me!'

But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.

'Can you believe our luck?' said Ron miserably, bending down to pick up Scabbers. He glanced over his shoulder at the ancient tree, which was still flailing its branches threateningly. 'Come on Ron,' said Elizabeth wearily, 'we'd better get up to the school and explain ourselves…'

It was not at all the triumphant arrival they had pictured. Stiff, cold, and bruised, they seized the ends of their trunks and began dragging them up the grassy slope, toward the great oak front doors.

'I think the feast's already started,' said Ron, dropping his trunk at the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a brightly lit window. 'Hey Lizzie come and look, it's the Sorting!'

Elizabeth hurried over and, together, he and Ron peered in at the Great Hall.

Innumerable candles were hovering in midair over four long, crowded tables, making the golden plates and goblets sparkle. Overhead, the bewitched ceiling, which always mirrored the sky outside, sparkled with stars.

Through the forest of pointed black Hogwarts hats, Elizabeth saw a long line of scared-looking first years filing into the Hall; she could pick out a few faces in the line that she recognized. Maria, Georgiana and Ginny were all visible. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall was getting ready to sort the next student. Every year, this aged old hat, patched, frayed, and dirty, sorted new students into the four Hogwarts houses and Elizabeth well remembered putting it on, exactly one year ago, and waiting, petrified, for its decision as it muttered aloud in her ear. For a few horrible seconds she had feared that the hat was going to put her in Slytherin, and while not all Dark wizards came from that house, Elizabeth knew she would never get along with some of her year mates who had been sorted before her. A very small, mousy-haired boy had been called forward to place the hat on his head. Elizabeth's eyes wandered past him to where Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, sat watching the Sorting from the staff table, his long silver beard and half-moon glasses shining brightly in the candlelight. Several seats along, Elizabeth saw Gilderoy Lockhart and narrowed her eyes in suspicion, and there at the end was Hagrid, huge and hairy, drinking deeply from his goblet.

'Hang on…' Elizabeth muttered to Ron. 'There's an empty chair at the staff table… Where's Snape?'

Professor Severus Snape was one of Elizabeth's favourite teachers. A man who despite being enemies with her father still looked out for Elizabeth as a kind of guardian angel and treated her with respect in order to honour her mother's memory.

'I bet he's out looking for us, I just hope he stops yelling long enough to listen to us,' replied Elizabeth.

'Elizabeth Dorea Potter, I hope you have a good explanation for this.'

Elizabeth spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze stood Severus Snape. His eyes and face seemed to show relief but also a hint of disappointment as he gazed at her.

'Follow me,' said Snape. Hoping that the Professor would accept their account of the warded barrier Elizabeth and Ron followed Snape up the steps into the vast, echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. A delicious smell of food was wafting from the Great Hall, but Snape led them away from the warmth and light, down a narrow stone staircase that led into the dungeons.

'In!' he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing.

They entered Snape's office, shivering. The things floating in jars always gave Elizabeth the creeps, but she knew that underneath his appearance, Snape was a good man.

'What were you thinking Elizabeth? I thought you of all people would be smarter than to pull a stunt like this. This is much more the thing I would expect from the Weasley twins or Mr Jordan, did they put you up to this? If they did, I'll have their guts for potion ingredients.'

Elizabeth began her account, 'no, sir, it was the barrier at King's Cross, it had been warded, it wouldn't let us through and my owl's cage had been sealed and your panic button broken, we had no other option…'

Snape gazed directly at Elizabeth as she spoke and she felt images of what happened flash before her eyes. Snape sighed, 'Well, this situation was not of your making and I could not have expected you to know better at your age, but still, my hands are tied.'

Snape unrolled today's issue of the Evening Prophet. 'You were seen,' he said showing them the headline: FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES.

'He began to read aloud: 'Two Muggles in London convinced they saw an old car flying over the Post Office tower… at noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing… Mr. Angus Fleet, of Peebles, reported to police… Six or seven Muggles in all. I believe your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office?' he said.'

Looking up at Ron and shaking his head 'Dear, dear… his own son…'

Elizabeth felt as though she had just been walloped in the stomach by one of the mad tree's larger branches. The fall out would be enormous and not just for her, if anyone found out Mr. Weasley had bewitched the car…

'I see your father hasn't lost his tendency to tinker with muggle machinery," Snape went on, before Ron did something Elizabeth could never expect and said. 'It was my idea sir, Lizzie was against it.'

'My hands are tied Mr Weasley, but I will speak up for you both and make some discrete inquiries about the elf.'

'I must inform Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, you are not in my house and any punishment must be levied by them.'

Elizabeth didn't feel hungry any more, she felt worried, she'd seen Professor McGonagall angry before and had no wish to repeat the experience and here she sat awaiting sentence. She could only hope that it wouldn't be too terrible, and that Mr Weasley would be ok. Professor McGonagall came in a little while later and raised her wand the moment she entered; Elizabeth and Ron both flinched, but she merely pointed it at the empty fireplace, where flames suddenly erupted.

'Sit,' she said, and they both backed into chairs by the fire.

Elizabeth noticed that Professor McGonagall seemed more disappointed rather than angry as she spoke, 'Professor Snape has already told me what happened, and while I can understand why you did it, your course of action was still reckless. Though the situation was not of your making, there were other courses of action you could have taken, the Knight bus, or the visitor's entrance to the ministry of magic for example.'

Elizabeth felt foolish at that, they probably would have been better alternatives and Dobby would not have been able to stop her using both of them. Soon, Professor Dumbledore joined them and Elizabeth's whole body went numb. Dumbledore was looking disappointed. He stared down his very crooked nose at them, and Elizabeth wondered what he was going to say, he soon enlightened them as he began to speak.

'While you were caught in a situation you did not intend, there were options far more appropriate to deal with it and what you both have done was reckless, I must impress upon both of you the seriousness of what you have done and as such I will be writing to both your families tonight. I don't want to see either of you do anything like this again, do I make myself clear.'

Elizabeth and Ron nodded meekly and Professor Dumbledore walked out of the room and led Professor Snape away. Professor McGonagall looked at Ron and said.

'You'd better get along to the hospital wing, Weasley, you're bleeding.'

'Not much,' said Ron, hastily wiping the cut over his eye with his sleeve.' Professor, I wanted to watch my sister being sorted.'

'The Sorting Ceremony is over,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Your sister is also in Gryffindor, as is Maria and Miss Longbottom,' she smiled at this.

Elizabeth smiled too, Maria and Georgiana were both nice girls and it would be good for Ginny to have them around her so that the three of them could adjust to their life at the school.

'Oh, good,' said Ron.

Professor McGonagall looked at them both and sighed, 'Well, I can't fault you both for panicking when faced with a crisis with no obvious solution, but you still must pay for the crime, so detention for both of you.'

Elizabeth felt relieved, a detention would not be too bad and as for the Dursleys, they would probably be disappointed that the willow did not kill her.

Professor McGonagall raised her wand again and pointed it at Snape's desk. A large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, and a jug of iced pumpkin juice appeared with a pop.

'You will eat in here and then go straight up to your dormitory,' she said. 'I must also return to the feast.'

When the door had closed behind her, Ron let out a long, low whistle.

'That was crazy; I thought we were both dead.'

Elizabeth replied, 'me too.'

'Can you believe our luck, though?' said Ron thickly through a mouthful of chicken and ham. Fred and George must've flown that car five or six times and no Muggle ever saw them.' He swallowed and took another huge bite. 'Why doesn't Dobby want you here?'

Elizabeth shrugged, 'we'll, we won't know, for now.'

Taking a grateful swig of pumpkin juice.' Wish we could've gone up to the feast…'

'She didn't want us showing off,' said Ron sagely. 'Doesn't want people to think it's clever, arriving by flying car.'

When they had eaten as many sandwiches as they could (the plate kept refilling itself) they rose and left the office, treading the familiar path to Gryffindor Tower. The castle was quiet; it seemed that the feast was over. They walked past muttering portraits and creaking suits of armour, and climbed narrow flights of stone stairs, until at last they reached the passage where the secret entrance to Gryffindor Tower was hidden, behind an oil painting of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

'Password?' she said as they approached.

'Err —' said Elizabeth.

They didn't know the new year's password, not having met a Gryffindor prefect yet, but help came almost immediately; they heard hurrying feet behind them and turned to see Hermione and Jane dashing toward them.

'There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumours, someone said you'd both been expelled for crashing a flying car!'

"Lizzie! What on earth's been going on?"

'Well, we haven't been expelled,' Elizabeth assured them.

'You're not telling me you did fly here?' said Hermione, sounding almost as severe as Professor McGonagall.

'Good heavens Lizzie!" Exclaimed Jane.

'Skip the lecture,' said Ron impatiently, 'and tell us the new password.'

'It's "wattlebird,' said Hermione impatiently, 'but that's not the point.'

'Why Lizzie? Why did you do it?' Jane asked, shock and curiosity etched on her face.

Her words were cut short, however, as the portrait of the fat lady swung open and there was a sudden storm of clapping. It looked as though the whole of Gryffindor House was still awake, packed into the circular common room, standing on the lopsided tables and squashy armchairs, waiting for them to arrive. Arms reached through the portrait hole to pull Elizabeth and Ron inside, leaving Hermione and Jane to scramble in after them.

'Brilliant!' yelled Lee Jordan. 'Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years.'

'Good for you Potter,' said a fifth year Elizabeth had never spoken to; someone was patting her on the back as though she'd just won a marathon; Fred and George pushed their way to the front of the crowd and said together, 'why didn't you tell us you were a prankster Lizzie?'

Richard, Fitzwilliam, Neville and Charles all hurried over to her and Richard stammered.

'Blimey Lizzie! Didn't know you were the type to pull something like this!'

The other three nodded and Elizabeth said, 'I wouldn't have if there was any alternative.'

Ron was scarlet in the face, grinning embarrassedly, but Elizabeth could see one person who did not look happy at all. Percy was visible over the heads of some excited first years, and he seemed to be trying to get near enough to start telling them off. Elizabeth nudged Ron in the ribs and nodded in Percy's direction. Ron got the point at once.

'Got to get upstairs, bit tired,' he said, and he walked off and went up to the boys

Dormitories.

Elizabeth, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione all pushed their way through the crowd and up to the girls staircase where they went up to their old room which now bore the plaque: _Second Years_ and walked inside where Elizabeth spent the next few hours telling the other second year girls what had happened and Charlotte said.

'Unbelievable, but what was Dobby so scared of?'

Jane shrugged and said, 'Well, we can only hope Professor Snape can find out what it is, and that'll be the end of it.'

The others all agreed with her but Elizabeth privately thought that it wouldn't be that simple and that whatever Dobby feared would soon be upon them.


	6. Chapter 6

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: I thought I was past the flamers back in part 1 when I did my monster counter argument, but apparently not. Once and for all, if you don't like it, don't read it, but don't spoil it for everybody else as several people have been telling me to get on with it and publish more after they read part 1. I do not mind honest criticism on areas such as grammar mistakes (which I will fix as soon as I can) or suggestions that could improve the story, but flaming, that goes too far. Any people who flame me will be blocked, no exceptions. To rebut my persistent flamer Slytheringirl 26 and anybody else who intends on flaming me, I use cannon text as a background filler, and will use a lot less of it in areas where my fic deviates wildly which will become more common later in the series when the twists I'm planning will really be obvious to those beyond the few who have guessed and PM'd me, the first three books of the series sow the seeds for the last four and as such the key changes won't be really obvious just yet. If you think that any fic that uses any cannon text is not good fan fiction, then that removes about 1/3 at least of all the fics on this site, which use it in some form. Many fics use it as background filler or indeed the whole basis of the work, (reading the book fics for example) and have had no trouble, and freedom of publication within clearly defined site rules is what everyone barring the fun police saboteurs want. Elizabeth is by no means perfect, just a little bit smarter, and will face several problems Harry did not over the course of the series. There, I hope that's the last time I have to rebut a flamer and I'm sorry if I've spooked anybody for it, and now my snake in the grass has been slain, you, the appreciative majority of the audience can enjoy my work in peace._

Chapter 6: Gilderoy Lockhart

The next day, however, for Elizabeth things took a darker twist as things started to go downhill as soon as she got up feeling that trouble was coming. Elizabeth sat with her friends in the great hall eating breakfast and she had noticed a stiffness in the way that Hermione greeted Ron and worried that the two of them would start arguing again. She'd seen it happen when they'd met Fluffy, Hagrid's pet Cerebus and a few time when Hermione and Ron bickered over work and she had no desire to try and keep the peace between them. The others seemed to have forgiven them though as they were all cheerful enough, but soon enough Elizabeth's sense of foreboding came true as there as with the usual rushing sound overhead, hundreds of owls streamed in dropping packages and something gray fell close to them and landed in a milk jug.

'Errol!' said Ron, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Errol slumped, unconscious, onto the table, his legs in the air and a damp red envelope in his beak.

'Oh, no —' Ron gasped.

'It's all right, he's still alive,' said Hermione, prodding Errol gently with the tip of her finger.

'It's not that, it's that.'

Ron was pointing at the red envelope. Elizabeth recognized it and waited as Ron picked it up and held it like a bomb that was about to go off.

'She's, she's sent me a Howler,' said Ron faintly.

Jane looked at it and said, 'Is that what I think it is?'

Charles looked at it and winced before saying, "open it Ron, if you don't it'll blow."

The other boys all nodded, but Ron's whole attention was fixed on the letter, which had begun to smoke at the corners.

'Open it,' Fitzwilliam urged. 'It'll all be over in a few minutes.'

Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open and everybody close to them covered their ears.

As he did, the envelope let loose a torrent of sound that shook dust from the ceiling

'—STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE —'

Mrs. Weasley's voice, magnified by a considerable amount echoed around the hall and Ron sank so low in his chair that only his crimson forehead could be seen.

'—LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND ELIZABETH COULD BOTH HAVE DIED …..'

Elizabeth felt sick with guilt as her name came up; after all, it was as much her fault as Ron's.

'—ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.'

Silence fell in the hall, nobody moved for a moment as the impact of the howler sank in and Hermione closed Voyages with Vampires and looked down at the top of Ron's head.

'Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you …'

'Don't tell me I deserved it,' snapped Ron.

Elizabeth looked at Hermione, "I'm as guilty as he is, and besides, the teachers already handed down their verdict, let's just do the detention and be done with it."

Jane smiled and Charlotte said, "Ok, we don't want a repeat of last year, one troll was enough."

Everybody remembered the incident and nobody said much, but Elizabeth was soon brought back into the present when Professor McGonagall came along handing out timetables. Elizabeth took hers and saw that they had double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first. Elizabeth and the others left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch, and made for the greenhouses. As they neared the greenhouses, they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. Elizabeth and her friends had only just joined them when she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockhart. Professor Sprout's arms were full of bandages, and with another twinge of guilt, Elizabeth spotted the Whomping Willow in the distance, several of its branches now in slings.

Professor Sprout was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair; there was usually a large amount of earth on her clothes and her fingernails would have made Aunt Petunia faint. Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.

'Oh, hello there!' he called, beaming around at the assembled students. 'Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels…'

'Greenhouse three today, chaps!' said Professor Sprout, who was looking distinctly disgruntled, not at all her usual cheerful self, there was a murmur of interest. They had only ever worked in greenhouse one before and greenhouse three housed plants far more dangerous than the ones they had worked with last year. Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Elizabeth caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. She was about to follow the others inside when she felt somebody grab her arm.

'Elizabeth! I've been wanting a word, you don't mind if she's a couple of minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?'

Judging by Professor Sprout's scowl, she did mind, but Lockhart said, 'That's the ticket,' and closed the greenhouse door in her face.

'Elizabeth,' said Lockhart, his large white teeth gleaming in the sunlight as he shook his head, you really should be patient…When I heard, well, of course, it was all my fault. Could have kicked myself.'

Elizabeth had no clue what he was talking about. She was about to say so when Lockhart went on, 'Don't know when I've been more shocked. Flying a car to Hogwarts! Well, of course, I knew at once, why you'd done it. Stood out a mile you did.'

It was remarkable how he could show every one of those brilliant teeth even when he wasn't talking, 'Gave you a taste for publicity, didn't I?' said Lockhart. 'Gave you the bug. You got onto the front page of the paper with me and you couldn't wait to do it again.'

'I didn't do it on purpose….'

Elizabeth,' said Lockhart, reaching out and grasping her shoulder. 'I understand. Natural to want a bit more once you've had that first taste, and I blame myself for giving you that, because it was bound to go to your head, but see here, young lady, you can't start flying cars to try and get yourself noticed. "Just calm down, all right? Plenty of time for all that when you're older. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking! It's all right for him; he's an internationally famous wizard already! But when I was twelve, I was just as much of a nobody as you are now. In fact, I'd say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't they? All that business with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!' He glanced at the lightning scar on Elizabeth's forehead. 'I know, I know, it's not quite as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times in a row, as I have, but it's a start, Lizzie, it's a start.'

He gave Elizabeth a hearty wink and strode off. Elizabeth couldn't believe her ears; he was accusing her of being addicted to fame, of flying the car for publicity! Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the retreating back of Professor Lockhart and walked into the greenhouse. Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different-colored earmuffs were lying on the bench. When Elizabeth had taken her place between Charlotte and Jane she said, 'We'll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?'

To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was first into the air.

'Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative,' said Hermione, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook.

'It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state.'

'Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor,' said Professor Sprout. 'The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?'

Charlotte for once beat Hermione to the punch and said, 'The cry of the adult Mandrake is fatal to whoever hears it.'

Hermione looked a little put out until Jane whispered to her sister that she didn't have to answer every single question.

'Precisely, take ten points Miss McGonagall,' said Professor Sprout. 'Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young.'

She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward for a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in colour, were growing there in rows.

'Everyone take a pair of earmuffs,' said Professor Sprout.

Elizabeth grabbed a pair along with everyone else and listened as Professor Sprout went on, 'When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered,' said Professor Sprout. 'When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right earmuffs on.'

Elizabeth pulled them on and watched as Professor Sprout put the pink, fluffy pair over her own ears, rolled up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard. The plant was clearly unhappy at being disturbed and Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying it in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs.

'As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet,' she said calmly, "however, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up. Four to a tray …. There is a large supply of pots here, compost in the sacks over there and be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, its teething.'

She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder. Elizabeth, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione paired up without thinking about it, set to work, and listened as a rather loud-mouthed Hufflepuff boy joined Neville, Fitzwilliam and Charles at the next tray over and started speaking.

'That Lockhart's something isn't he?' said Justin happily as they began filling their plant pots with dragon dung compost.' Awfully brave chap, have you read his books? I would have died of fear if a werewolf had cornered me in a telephone booth, but he stayed cool and — zap — just fantastic. My name was down for Eton, you know. I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead. Of course, Mother was slightly disappointed, but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to see how useful it'll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family…'

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the praise the boy was giving Lockhart and Jane said.

'What's wrong Lizzie?'

Elizabeth leaned closer and said, 'Lockhart, that fool is worse than I thought, he actually accused me of going in the car to attract more fame, and have you read his books? I'd swear half of the thing's he says he's done overlap in time.'

Charlotte nodded, but Jane, ever the fair-minded one of the group spoke in defence, 'Maybe that's just an error by the publishers that nobody else spotted, surely he'll tell us when he takes our classes.'

Elizabeth smiled and said, 'Oh Jane, how I wish I could think so well of people as you do.'

However, Professor Sprout came over to them before Jane said anything else and said.

'Less talk, more work ladies, this isn't a tea party.'

After that, they did not have much chance to talk. Their earmuffs were back on and they needed to concentrate on the Mandrakes. Professor Sprout had made it look extremely easy, but it wasn't. The Mandrakes didn't like coming out of the earth, but didn't seem to want to go back into it either. They squirmed, kicked, flailed their sharp little fists, and gnashed their teeth; Elizabeth, needed both Charlotte's and Jane's help to push a rather big one into it's pot and by the end of the class, Elizabeth, like everyone else, was sweaty, aching, and covered in soil. Professor McGonagall's classes were always a challenge, but after feeling tired and hungry after Herbology didn't help things and it took Elizabeth longer than usual to get the spell right, though Ron was having far worse problems. He had patched up his wand with some borrowed Sellotape, but it seemed to be damaged beyond repair. It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick gray smoke that smelled of rotten eggs, and all in all, Elizabeth was glad to hear the bell ring. Elizabeth walked over to Ron after the lesson ended and said to him.

'I think you should write home for a new wand Ron, I think that ones beyond repair.'

'Oh, yeah, and get another Howler back,' snapped Ron, stuffing the now hissing wand into his bag. 'It's your own fault your wand got snapped — ' he said, imitating his mother's voice.

As they all sat down for lunch, Ron turned to Hermione and said, 'What've we got this afternoon?'

'Defence against the Dark Arts,' said Hermione at once.

'Why,' demanded Ron, seizing her schedule, 'have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?'

Hermione snatched the schedule back, blushing furiously and Elizabeth shook her head at the display. They all finished their lunch and went outside into the overcast courtyard. Hermione sat down on a stone step and buried her nose in Voyages with Vampires again. Jane, Charles, Ron, Fitzwilliam, Charlotte and Elizabeth all stood around talking for awhile when the first year boy Elizabeth and Ron had watched being sorted came up to them looking somewhat star struck as he gazed at Elizabeth. He was clutching what looked like an ordinary Muggle camera, and the moment Elizabeth looked at him, he went bright red.

'All right, Elizabeth? I'm — I'm Colin Creevey,' he said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. 'I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think — would it be all right if— I can have a picture?' he said, raising the camera hopefully.

Elizabeth looked shocked at the request and said, 'Why?'

'So I can prove I've met you,' said Colin Creevey eagerly, edging further forward. 'I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead' (his eyes raked Elizabeth's hairline) 'and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move.'

Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, 'It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him.'

Elizabeth thought that she should be kind to the boy as he wasn't really all that different to her in some ways and she listened as the boy carried on.

And it'd be really good if I had one of you' — he looked imploringly at Elizabeth — 'maybe one of your friends could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?'

'Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?'

Loud and scathing, Pansy Parkinson's voice echoed around the courtyard. She had stopped right behind Colin, with a gang of Slytherin girls, all giggling and looking at Pansy as if she was the queen.

'Everybody line up!' Pansy shouted to the crowd. 'Elizabeth Potter's giving out signed photos!''

'No, I'm not,' said Elizabeth angrily, her hands fingering her wand.

'You're just jealous, you're jealous because you aren't as pretty or as brave as Elizabeth' piped up Colin.

Elizabeth felt shocked at his words but smiled at the boy who blushed as red as a tomato before she turned back to Pansy.

'Jealous?' said Pansy, who didn't need to shout anymore: half the courtyard was listening in. 'Of what? I'm far better than your stupid Elizabeth; I don't need an ugly scar on my head to attract attention.'

Crabbe and Goyle were sniggering stupidly as they, Malfoy came to stand behind Pansy, and Malfoy spoke up.

'That's right my dear, she's nothing compared to you, a filthy halfblood who thinks that the world should worship her because of a scar.'

'Eat slugs, Malfoy,' said Ron angrily. Crabbe stopped laughing and started rubbing his knuckles in a menacing way.

'Be careful, Weasley,' sneered Malfoy. 'You don't want to start any trouble or your Mommy'll have to come and take you away from school.' He put on a shrill, piercing voice. "If you put another toe out of line".'

A knot of Slytherin fifth-years nearby laughed loudly at this.

'Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter,' smirked Malfoy. 'It'd be worth more than his family's whole house.'

Fitzwilliam spoke loudly, 'I'm warning you Malfoy, one more word…..'

Ron whipped out his Sellotape wand, but Hermione shut Voyages with Vampires with a snap and whispered, 'Look out!'

'What's all this, what's all this?' Gilderoy Lockhart was striding toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him.

'Who's giving out signed photos?'

Elizabeth started to speak but she was cut short as Lockhart flung an arm around her shoulders and thundered jovially, 'Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Lizzie!'

Pinned to Lockhart's side and burning with humiliation, Elizabeth saw Malfoy and Pansy slide smirking back into the crowd of onlookers.

'Come on then, Mr. Creevey,' said Lockhart, beaming at Colin. 'A double portrait can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it for you.'

Colin fumbled for his camera and took the picture as the bell rang behind them, signalling the start of afternoon classes much to Elizabeth's relief.

'Off you go, move along there,' Lockhart called to the crowd, and he set off back to the castle with Elizabeth, who was wishing she had her cloak on her to get away from the posturing man keeping her by his side.

'A word to the wise, Elizabeth,' said Lockhart paternally as they entered the building through a side door.' I covered up for you back there with young Creevey — if he was photographing me, too, your schoolmates won't think you're setting yourself up so much…'

'_Is this man always this much of an idiot?' _Thought Elizabeth.

Deaf to Elizabeth's pleas to let her go, Lockhart swept him down a corridor lined with staring students and up a staircase.

'Let me just say that handing out signed pictures at this stage of your career isn't sensible — looks a tad bigheaded, Elizabeth, to be frank. There may well come a time when, like me, you will need to keep a stack handy wherever you go,

'_I can't believe this fool…'_

But', he gave a little chortle; 'I don't think you're quite there yet.'

They had reached Lockhart's classroom and he let Elizabeth go at last. Elizabeth straightened her robes and headed for a seat at the very back of the class, and looked defiantly at Lockhart, determined to try to find a way to bring him down to earth. The rest of the class came clattering in, and Ron and Charlotte took seats next to Elizabeth.

'That was awful,' said Charlotte, 'I can't believe this fool.'

'That does it, I'm getting the twins to prank that idiot as soon as I find them.' vowed Ron.

'I'll help them,' replied Elizabeth.

When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

'Me,' he said, pointing at it and winking as well. 'Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!'

He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly.

'I see you've all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in —'

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, 'you have thirty minutes — start —now!'

Harry looked down at his paper and read:

1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?

2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?

3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:

54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.

'Tut, tut, hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogdeds Old Firewhisky!'

'He gave them another roguish wink. Ron was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face while Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione, on the other hand, was listening to Lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her name.

'… but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions — good girl! In fact' — he flipped her paper over — 'full marks!'

Elizabeth shook her head in disgust as she watched proceedings.

'Where is Miss Hermione Granger?'

Hermione raised a trembling hand.

'Excellent!' beamed Lockhart. 'Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so, to business .'

He bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.

'Now, be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm.'

In spite of herself, Elizabeth leaned forward for a closer look at the cage. Lockhart placed a hand on the cover. Dean and Seamus had stopped laughing now, Neville looked frightened and Fitzwilliam determined from their seats nearby.

'I must ask you not to scream,' said Lockhart in a low voice. 'It might provoke them.'

As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.

'Yes,' he said dramatically. 'Freshly caught Cornish pixies.'

Seamus Finnigan could not control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart could not mistake for a scream of terror.

'Yes?' He smiled at Seamus.

'Well, they're not, they're not very dangerous, are they?' Seamus choked.

'Don't be so sure!' said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at Seamus. 'Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!'

The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.

'Right, then,' Lockhart said loudly. 'Let's see what you make of them!' And he opened the cage.

It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.

'Come on now, round them up, round them up, they're only pixies,' Lockhart shouted."

"He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, 'Peskipiksi Pesternomi!'

'_That's not even a spell you posturing twit!' _thought Elizabeth in dismay as she watched the Professor make a complete hash of the lesson. It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Neville, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.

The bell rang and there was a mad rush toward the exit. In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Elizabeth and her friends and said, 'I'll just ask you eight to nip the rest back in their cage.'

He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.

'Can you believe him?' roared Ron as one of the remaining pixies bit him painfully on the ear.

'He just wants to give us some hands-on experience,' said Hermione, immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back into their cage.

'Hands on Hermione! The man is an incompetent buffoon who cares more about his looks and public image than his own students,' said Elizabeth freezing a pixie about to bite an unsuspecting Charles who was busy dealing with two moving towards Jane.

Hermione frowned a little and said, 'Look at the things he's done Lizzie.'

Ron spoke up and said, 'He says he's done.'

Once class had ended and dinner was over, Elizabeth determinedly sought out Fred and George, finding them with their friend Lee Jordan in the common room bent over a box that kept making odd noises, they looked up and the twins spoke when they noticed her.

'Well if it isn't our favourite…..Photo model herself…..Come to talk to the big boys…'

Elizabeth blushed; surely, the news about that business hadn't reached the upperclassmen?

She leaned closer and said. 'I need your help; can I ask a small favour?'

Fred grinned and said, 'But of course milady…'

George continued, 'Your humble court jesters are always here to help brighten your day.'

Elizabeth giggled and made sure nobody was listening and said, 'I want to prank that posturing fool Lockhart, but I don't have the materials, nothing particularly nasty mind you, but he's being unbearable lately. Did you hear what happened today?'

The three of them nodded and George grinned just as evilly as his twin and said, 'Well you've come to the right place…'

Lee leaned closer as well and said, 'We heard what happened with that first year kid and the camera, that deserves a severe pranking by itself, but if half of what our mates are telling us is true, that fool is a danger to everyone. No we'd be glad to help Lizzie.'

And so the four of them began to plot to teach the unsuspecting Lockhart that it took more than good image to make a proper teacher.


	7. Chapter 7

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

Chapter 7: Mudbloods and Murmurs

_Authors note: sorry about my long absence but real life got in the way as I had to take a long trip to China for an internship and then had a big case of writers block. But now I've got time on my hands and feel the creative juices flowing again. _

Elizabeth woke one morning a few days later with a devious smile on her face as she imagined the prank that was coming up for Lockhart that day as she, Lee and the twins used the invisibility cloak the previous night to prepare, Hermione took one look at her and said.

'I know that look Lizzie, you're planning something, what is it?'

Elizabeth leaned closer and whispered, 'just a little surprise for Lockhart, the twins and Lee helped me set up, let's go down and watch.'

The girls all got dressed and hurried down to the great hall and Elizabeth watched Lockhart who was sitting in his seat boasting to the professors around him about fighting a dragon, Elizabeth didn't believe a word of it and silently thought to herself, '_Just you wait for it, you fool.'_

Suddenly as Lockhart took a swig from his goblet there was a loud bang and a plume of green smoke that enveloped the would be professor. When it cleared the whole school began roaring with laughter at the sight, the professors skin had turned green he grew a huge pot belly, his ears became long and pointy, his unnaturally white teeth a dull yellow and his robes were replaced with a simple vest and breeches. The professor began yelling in dismay in an exaggerated northern accent and ran from the room. Elizabeth and Charlotte giggled at the sight, Jane was smiling but Hermione looked at the scene in dismay. The prank seemed to take the wind out of Lockhart's sails and for the next few days he seemed a lot quieter than usual and avoided Elizabeth, harder to avoid was Colin Creevey who seemed to hero worship Elizabeth. Hedwig was still angry with Elizabeth over the disastrous car journey and Ron's wand was still malfunctioning causing a number of accidents that cost Gryffindor a few points. Soon the weekend came along and Elizabeth, Charlotte, Jane, Charles, Fitzwilliam, Ron, and Hermione were all planning to visit Hagrid in the morning, Elizabeth, however, was shaken awake several hours earlier than she would have liked by Katie Bell, one of the Gryffindor chasers who looked bleary

'Whasssgoingon?…. Katie.'

'Sorry Lizzie, Wood's insisting on a Quidditch practice, one of these days I'm going to hex him.'

Elizabeth gazed at the window, there was a mist hanging over the damp lawns and a pinkish glow in the sky that told her that the sun hadn't quite risen . Now that she was awake, she couldn't understand how she could have slept through the racket the birds were making.

'Katie, ' Elizabeth croaked. 'It's the crack of dawn.'

'Tell that to Oliver Lizzie, it's part of his new training program, grab your broom, and let's go, we'll get him for this later. None of the other teams have started training yet, what is that crazy fool thinking?'

Elizabeth silently fumed at her captain and got out of bed and tried to find her Quidditch robes, 'ok Lizzie, I'll see you there in about fifteen minutes ok and I'll try and save a piece of Oliver for you.'

Elizabeth smiled slightly and when she'd gotten dressed, Elizabeth wrote a note for her friends telling them where she'd gone and walked down the stairs holding her broom. She had just reached the portrait hole when there was a clatter behind her and Colin Creevey came running up to her.

'I heard someone saying your name on the stairs, Lizzie!'

'Look what I've got here! I've had it developed, I wanted to show you .'

Elizabeth looked bemusedly at the photograph Colin was brandishing under her nose.

A moving, black-and-white Lockhart was tugging hard on an arm Elizabeth recognized as her own. She was pleased to see that her photographic self was putting up a good fight and refusing to be dragged into view. As Elizabeth watched, her photographic self's leg kicked Lockhart in the crotch and he gave up and slumped, Panting, against the white edge of the picture.

'Will you sign it?' said Colin eagerly.

'No,' said Elizabeth glancing around to check that the room was really deserted. 'Sorry, Colin, I'm in a hurry, Quidditch practice .'

She climbed through the portrait hole.

'Oh, wow! Wait for me! I've never watched a Quidditch game before!'

Colin scrambled through the hole after her.

'Wood's a maniac, this won't be fun.'

Colin wasn't listening and trailed after her constantly praising her, Elizabeth didn't know how to get rid of him politely and didn't have the heart to hex him.

'I don't really understand Quidditch,' said Colin breathlessly. 'Is it true there are four balls? And two of them fly around trying to knock people off their brooms?'

Elizabeth sighed and spent the whole trip down to the field telling Colin about Quidditch and only shook him off when she reached the changing rooms. The rest of the Gryffindor team were already in the changing room. Wood was the only person who looked truly awake. All the players were slumped in their seats and looked ready to fall asleep at any moment.

'There you are, Lizzie, what kept you?' said Wood briskly.

'A rather annoying stalker,' muttered Elizabeth.

'Now, I wanted a quick talk with you all before we actually get onto the field, because I spent the summer devising a whole new training program, which I really think will make all the difference…'

Wood was holding up a large diagram of a Quidditch field, and spent the next few hours droning on and on with the same soporific powers as Professor Binns and Elizabeth wondered if the two wizards were related somehow.

'So,' said Wood, at long last, jerking Elizabeth from a wistful dream about what she could be eating for breakfast at this very moment up at the castle. 'Is that clear? Any questions?'

'I've got a question, Oliver,' said George, who had woken with a start. 'Why couldn't you have told us all this yesterday when we were awake?'

Wood wasn't pleased as he continued addressing the team. 'Now, listen here, you lot,' he said, glowering at them all. 'We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We're easily the best team. But unfortunately, owing to circumstances beyond our control….."

Elizabeth shifted guiltily in her seat. She had been unconscious in the hospital wing for the final match of the previous year after her fight with Professor Quirrell , meaning that Gryffindor had been a player short and had suffered their worst defeat in three hundred years.

Wood took a moment to regain control of himself. Their last defeat was clearly still torturing him.

'So this year, we train harder than ever before… Okay, let's go and put our new theories into practice!' Wood shouted, seizing his broomstick and leading the way out of the locker rooms. Stiff-legged and still yawning, his team followed.

They had been in the locker room so long that the sun was up completely now, although remnants of mist hung over the grass in the stadium. As Elizabeth walked onto the field, she saw her friends sitting in the stands.

'Aren't you finished yet?' called Ron incredulously.

'Haven't even started,' said Elizabeth, looking jealously at the food Ron and the others had brought out of the great hall. Elizabeth mounted her broomstick and kicked at the ground, soaring up into the air. The cool morning air whipped her face, waking her far more effectively than Wood's long talk. It felt wonderful to be back on the Quidditch field. She soared right around the stadium at full speed racing past the three chasers.

'What's that funny clicking noise?' called Angelina as they hurtled around the corner.

Elizabeth looked into the stands. Colin was sitting in one of the highest seats, his camera raised, taking picture after picture, the sound strangely magnified in the deserted stadium.

'Look this way, Lizzie! This way!' he cried shrilly.

'Who's that?' said Alicia.

'No idea,' Elizabeth lied," putting on a spurt of speed that took her as far away as possible from Colin.

'What's going on?' said Wood, frowning, as he skimmed through the air toward them. 'Why's that first year taking pictures?'

'I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy, trying to find out about our new training program.'

'He's in Gryffindor,' said Elizabeth quickly.

'And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver,' said George.

'What makes you say that?' said Wood testily.

'Because they're here in person,' said George, pointing.

Several people in green robes were walking onto the field, broomsticks in their hands.

'I don't believe it!' Wood hissed in outrage. 'I booked the field for today!

We'll see about this!'

Wood shot toward the ground, landing rather harder than he meant to in his anger, staggering slightly as he dismounted. Elizabeth and the rest of the team followed him

'Flint!' Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. 'This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!'

Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood and looked like he was part troll, he replied deviously. 'Plenty of room for all of us, Wood.'

'But I booked the field!' said Wood, positively spitting with rage. 'I booked it!'

'Ah,' said Flint. 'But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. _I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker_.

'You've got a new Seeker?' said Wood, distracted. 'Who?'

And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy.

'Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?' said Fred, looking at Malfoy with dislike.

'Funny you should mention Draco's father,' said Flint as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. 'Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team.'

All seven players showed off their gleaming new brooms as Flint continued to gloat.

'Very latest model. Only came out last month,' said Flint carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. 'I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps' he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both clutching Cleansweep Fives, 'sweeps the board with them.'

None of the Gryffindor team could think of anything to say for a moment. Malfoy was smirking so broadly his cold eyes were reduced to slits.

'Oh, look,' said Flint. 'A field invasion.'

Ron, Charles, Richard, Fitzwilliam, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione had all come hurrying over.

'What's going on?' Fitzwilliam asked Elizabeth. 'Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?'

He was looking at Malfoy, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.

'I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Longbottom,' said Malfoy, smugly. 'Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team.'

Ron who was standing nearby gaped, open-mouthed, at the seven superb broomsticks in front of him.

'Good, aren't they?' said Malfoy smoothly. 'But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them.'

The Slytherin team howled with laughter.

'At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in,' said Hermione sharply. 'They got in on pure talent.'

Jane smiled at Hermione and added in, 'we all know that money can never replace talent.'

The smug look on Malfoy's face flickered.

'No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudbloods,' he spat.

Elizabeth knew instantly that Malfoy had said something terrible because there was an instant uproar at his words and it looked like one wrong move would start a war as people began drawing wands. Alicia shrieked, 'How dare you!' and Ron yelling, 'You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!' and pointed his wand under Flint's arm at Malfoys face. A loud bang echoed around the stadium and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.

'Ron! Ron! Are you all right?' squealed Hermione.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out and began vomiting slugs, the Gryffindors were squaring up to fight the Slytherins who were laughing their heads off at Ron. Nobody seemed to want to touch Ron who was on his hands and knees, slugs coming from his mouth at regular intervals. Elizabeth winced in sympathy and figured it would probably be best if they got Ron out of there before a full blown gang war started as more and more people were joining the two groups squaring off against each other. Elizabeth turned to Charlotte, Jane and Hermione and said, 'we'd better get him out of here before this blows up into a war zone, Hagrid's closest.'

The girls nodded and they seized Ron's arms and got him on his feet and led him away from the mass of people with the boys following along as a few professors began to appear to sort out the conflict before it got worse.

'What happened, Lizzie? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can't you?'

Colin had run down from his seat and was now dancing alongside them as they left the field. Ron let out a new wave of slugs, his face looking quite pale. "Oooh,' said Colin, fascinated and raising his camera. 'Can you hold him still, Elizabeth?'

'Get out of the way, Colin!' said Elizabeth angrily, her hair flashing an angry red colour as they kept walking.

'Nearly there, Ron,' said Hermione as the gamekeeper's cabin came into view. 'You'll be all right in a minute ….almost there …'

Charles nudged Elizabeth and pointed towards Hagrid's hut and the group detoured and hid amongst a group of trees as they watched Girlderoy Lockhart come out of the hut.

'It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing!' Lockhart was saying loudly to Hagrid. 'If you need help, you know where I am! I'll let you have a copy of my book. I'm surprised you haven't already got one, I'll sign one tonight and send it over. Well, good-bye!' And he strode away toward the castle. Elizabeth waited until Lockhart was out of sight, then pulled Ron along and into the hut.

'Bin wonderin' when you lot'd come ter see me, come in, come in, thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again ….' Said Hagrid.

Elizabeth and Hermione supported Ron over the threshold into the one-roomed cabin, which had an enormous bed in one corner, a fire crackling merrily in the other. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by Ron's slug problem, which Elizabeth hastily explained as she lowered Ron into a chair.

'Better out than in,' he said cheerfully, plunking a large copper basin in front of him.

'Get 'em all up, Ron.'

'I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop,' said Hermione anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin. 'That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand .'

Hagrid was bustling around making them tea. His boarhound, Fang, was slobbering over Elizabeth's knees.

'What did Lockhart want with you, Hagrid?' Elizabeth asked, scratching Fang's ears.

'Givin' me advice on gettin' kelpies out of a well,' growled Hagrid,' moving a half-plucked rooster off his scrubbed table and setting down the teapot. 'Like I don' know. An' bangin' on about some banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my kettle.'

Elizabeth smiled, glad to find another person who believed that Lockhart was an idiot, but as usual Hermione leapt to the mans defence with the swiftness of a good lawyer objecting to an offensive line of testimony. Elizabeth listened as Hermione and Hagrid spoke about Lockhart and then perked up as talk turned to Ron. 'So tell me,' said Hagrid, jerking his head at Ron. 'Who was he tryin' ter curse?'

Elizabeth spoke, 'Malfoy called Hermione and Jane something, I'm not sure, but he almost started a full blown gang war, everyone went mad. I think Charles was about to rip Malfoy to shreds and then Ron tried to hex Malfoy.'

Charles looked sheepish and waved his hands dismissively and then blushed as Jane smiled serenely at him, Fitzwilliam looked grave and Ron looked up spoke croakily, 'It was bad,' 'Malfoy called them 'Mudblood,' Hagrid ..'

Ron dived out of sight again as a fresh wave of slugs made their appearance.

Hagrid looked outraged.

'He didn'!' he growled at Hermione and Jane.

'He did,' Hermione said. 'But I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course .'

'It's about the most insulting thing he could think of,' gasped Ron, coming back up. 'Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards, like Malfoy's and Pansy's family, who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood.' He gave a small burp, and a single slug fell into his outstretched hand. He threw it into the basin and continued, 'I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville, he's pure-blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up.'

Fitzwilliam looked outraged and said, 'Oi, watch it Ron,'

'An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can't do,' said Hagrid proudly, Hermione blushing brilliantly.

Charles seemed to have lost his trademark cheeriness and added in, 'it's stupid anyway most wizards these days are half-blood. If wizards hadn't married muggles or muggle borns we've died out and besides, the hardliners may not have noticed but inbreeding has sapped their powers.'

Everyone murmured their agreement and Hagrid continued.

'Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron,' said Hagrid loudly over the thuds of more slugs hitting the basin. 'Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble.'

They spent a bit longer at Hagrid's the big gamekeeper showing them his magically enhanced pumpkins and jokingly asked Elizabeth for a signed photo, Elizabeth feeling quite flustered before she realised he was joking. Everyone trudged back to the castle where Elizabeth and Ron received an unwelcome reception when Professor McGonagall met them in the entrance hall. Saturday afternoon seemed to melt away, and in what seemed like no time, it was five minutes to eight, and Elizabeth was silently fuming and walking slowly along the second-floor corridor to Lockhart's office, she sighed and knocked on the door.

The door flew open at once. Lockhart beamed down at her.

'Ah, here's the scalawag!' he said.

'Come in, Elizabeth, come in …'

Elizabeth gagged when she noticed Lockhart's taste in interior decorating, shining brightly on the walls by the light of many candles were countless framed photographs of Lockhart, he had even signed a few of them and an another large pile lay on his desk.

'_Oh my god, is the man mad? He's more vain than a canary, maybe I should turn him into one next.'_

'You can address the envelopes!' Lockhart told Elizabeth, as though this was a huge treat for her.

'This first one's to Gladys Gudgeon, bless her, huge fan of mine….'

The minutes snailed by. Elizabeth let Lockhart's voice wash over her, praying desperately for the man to shut up and stop his prattle for one minute. The candles burned lower and lower, making the light dance over the many moving faces of Lockhart watching her with a lecherous look in their faces and she felt like she was being judged as though being analysed by a panel as she moved her aching hand over what felt like the thousandth envelope, writing out Veronica Smethley's address.

'_Something's not right here, even Binn's doesn't send me to sleep this much.'_

And then she heard something, something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart's prattle about his fans. It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

'Come… come to me… Let me rip you.. .Let me tear you...Let me kill you…'

Elizabeth gave a huge jump, startled as she felt a menacing presence pass close to her before disappearing and a large lilac blot appeared on the envelope on the desk.

'What?' she said loudly.

'I know!' said Lockhart. ' Never saw so many witches trying to chase me down.'

Elizabeth noticed that Lockhart seemed to have moved rather closer to her than was necessary, but was more preoccupied with the voice.

'No,' said Elizabeth frantically. 'That voice!'

'Sorry?' said Lockhart, looking puzzled. 'What voice?'

' You didn't hear it or sense it? The power behind it.'

Lockhart was looking at Elizabeth as though she were raving.

'What are you talking about, Elizabeth?'

'Perhaps you're getting a little drowsy? Great Scott, look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours!'

'I'd never have believed it, the time's flown, hasn't it?'

Elizabeth didn't answer, she knew she had sensed something as well as heard it but there was no trace now and half heartedly heard Lockhart telling her she mustn't expect a treat like this every time she got detention. Feeling confused, Elizabeth left and hurried back upstairs, eager to put some distance between herself and Lockhart. It was so late that the Gryffindor common room was almost empty. Elizabeth went straight up to the common room. Ron wasn't back yet. Elizabeth sat down and waited. Half an hour later, Ron arrived, nursing his right arm and bringing a strong smell of polish into the darkened room.

'My muscles have all seized up,' he groaned, sinking onto a chair. 'Fourteen times he made me buff up that Quidditch cup before he was satisfied. And then I had another slug attack all over a Special Award for Services to the School.'

'Took ages to get the slime off… How was it with Lockhart?'

Keeping her voice low she told Ron about the voice, the presence and the drowsiness.

'That's fishy, he couldn't hear anything? Also, you can resist Binn's way better than most, why would you feel so sleepy so easily?'

Elizabeth shrugged and said, ' I don't know, but something funny's going on here.'


	8. Chapter 8

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter 8: The Deathday Party

October arrived, bringing a fierce cold snap and a near constant deluge to the highlands and along with the weather came a sense of trouble brewing as Elizabeth began dreaming of storm clouds gathering above Hogwarts and a sinister looking figure stalking the halls. None of Elizabeth's friends or even Professor Snape were certain if Lockhart was up to anything, indeed Jane had guessed that Elizabeth was simply tired out at the end of a long day, and without any evidence or further incidents nobody could prove anything. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions however, was not dampened by the Scottish autumn. Therefore, after one particularly gruelling session, Elizabeth was walking along the corridor drenched to the skin and dripping mud. Gloom had descended on the team as Fred and Gorge had secretly been spying on the Slytherins and had seen the performance of their brooms, which clearly outclassed them. As Elizabeth squelched along the deserted corridor, she came across somebody who looked just as preoccupied as she was. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, was staring morosely out of a window, muttering under his breath, '… don't fulfil their requirements… half an inch, if that…'

'Hello, Sir Nicholas,' said Elizabeth.

'Hello, hello,' said Nearly Headless Nick, starting and looking round. Elizabeth could see right through him to the wild weather outside but could still see the look of annoyance on the face of the ghost.

'You look troubled, young Potter,' said Nick, folding a transparent letter as he spoke and tucking it inside his doublet.

'So do you,' said Elizabeth.

'Ah,' Nearly Headless Nick waved his hand dismissively 'a matter of no importance… It's not as though I really wanted to join…Thought I'd apply, but apparently I 'don't fulfil requirements' …..'

'But you would think, wouldn't you,' he erupted suddenly, pulling the letter back out of his pocket, 'that getting hit forty-five times in the neck with a blunt axe would qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?'

'Oh, yes,' said Elizabeth, who was obviously supposed to agree.

'I mean, nobody wishes more than I do that it had all been quick and clean, and my head had come off properly, I mean, it would have saved me a great deal of pain and ridicule. However." Nearly Headless Nick shook his letter open and read furiously:

_'We can only accept huntsmen whose heads have parted company with their bodies. You will appreciate that it would be impossible otherwise for members to participate in hunt activities such as Horseback Head-Juggling and Head Polo. It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must inform you that you do not fulfil our requirements. With very best wishes, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore_.

Fuming, Nearly Headless Nick stuffed the letter away.

'Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on child! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not enough for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore.'

Nearly Headless Nick took several deep breaths and then said, in a far calmer tone, 'So, what's bothering you? Anything I can do?'

'No, 'said Elizabeth. 'Not unless you know where we can get better brooms before our next game.'

The rest of Elizabeth's sentence was drowned out by a high-pitched mewling from around her ankle, Elizabeth gasped, and looking down she found Mrs Norris looking right at her.

'You'd better get out of here, Elizabeth, 'said Nick quickly. 'Filch isn't in a good mood, he's got the flu and some third years accidentally plastered frog brains all over the ceiling in dungeon five. He's been cleaning all morning, and if he sees you dripping mud all over the place …'

'Right,' said Elizabeth backing away from the accusing stare of Mrs. Norris and looking for an escape route, but not quickly enough. Drawn to the spot by the mysterious power that seemed to connect him with his foul cat, Argus Filch burst suddenly through a tapestry to Elizabeth's right looking for whoever had broken rules. 'Filth!' he shouted his jowls aquiver, his eyes popping alarmingly as he pointed at the muddy puddle that had dripped from Elizabeth's Quidditch robes. 'Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me, Potter!'

So Elizabeth waved a gloomy good-bye to Nearly Headless Nick and followed Filch back downstairs, doubling the number of muddy footprints on the floor. Elizabeth had been lucky to avoid Filch's office thus far, she hadn't been caught after her prank on Lockhart, and Fred and George had told her that it was a place best avoided.

The room looked as grim as the man himself and Elizabeth thought to herself that the man must not have any kind of life outside the walls of the castle, no decorations were visible and the sight of the metal instruments on the walls made Elizabeth shudder, as they were a horrible reminder of Borgin and Burkes. Filch grabbed a quill from a pot on his desk and began shuffling around looking for parchment.

'Dung,' he muttered furiously, 'great sizzling dragon bogies… frog brains… rat intestines… I've had enough of it… make an example… where's the form… yes…'

He retrieved a large roll of parchment from his desk drawer and stretched it out in front of him, dipping his long black quill into the inkpot.

"Name… Elizabeth Potter. Crime…"

'It was only a little bit of mud!' said Elizabeth.

'It's only a bit of mud to you, girl, but to me it's an extra hour scrubbing!' shouted Filch, a drip shivering unpleasantly at the end of his bulbous nose. 'Crime… befouling the castle… suggested sentence…'

Dabbing at his streaming nose, Filch squinted unpleasantly at Elizabeth who waited on tenterhooks for the punishment to fall. However, as Filch lowered his quill, there was a great BANG! On the ceiling of the office, which made the oil lamp rattle.

'PEEVES!' Filch roared, flinging down his quill in a transport of rage. 'I'll have you this time, I'll have you!'

And without a backward glance at Elizabeth, Filch ran flat-footed from the office, Mrs. Norris on his heels. Peeves was an even bigger merchant of menace than Fred and George combined and nothing brightened his day more than to cause trouble to somebody, student, teacher or ghost. Elizabeth didn't like him much as she'd been on the end of several of his pranks as he seemed to pester the junior students more than the senior. But she felt grateful as whatever he had done this time, it looked like it would distract Filch to the point where she could get away. Thinking that she should probably wait for Filch to come back, Elizabeth sank into a moth-eaten chair next to the desk. There was only one thing on it apart from her half-completed form, an envelope containing an advertisement for a correspondence course in basic magic, Elizabeth felt curious as she read it and wondered what Filch was doing with it. But before she could do much else, Elizabeth heard footsteps, guessed Filch was returning, and quickly put the envelope back.

Filch was looking triumphant. "That vanishing cabinet was extremely valuable!" he was saying gleefully to Mrs. Norris. "We'll have Peeves out this time, my sweet."

His eyes fell on Elizabeth and then darted to the Kwikspell envelope, which, Elizabeth realized too late, was lying two feet away from where it had started. Filch's pasty face went brick red. Elizabeth braced herself for a tidal wave of fury. Filch hobbled across to his desk, snatched up the envelope, and threw it into a drawer.

'Have you, did you read?' He sputtered.

'No sir', said Elizabeth, feeling herself flush.

Filch's knobbly hands were twisting together.

'If I thought you'd read my private, not that it's mine, for a friend, be that as it may however.'

Elizabeth was staring at him, alarmed, Filch looked ready to kill her there and then with his bare hands, but she shouted and demanded she leave. Amazed at her luck, Elizabeth ran up the corridor, and back upstairs as fast as her feet would carry her and didn't stop until Nearly Headless Nick hailed her.

'Elizabeth, did it work? Are you alright dear girl?'

Nearly Headless Nick came gliding out of a classroom. Behind him, Elizabeth could see the wreckage of a large black-and-gold cabinet that appeared to have been dropped from a great height.

'I persuaded Peeves to crash it right over Filch's office,' said Nick eagerly. 'Thought it might distract him …'

Elizabeth had never felt so grateful and beamed up at the ghost who amazingly blushed a pale silver.

'That was you, thank you so much! He let me go instantly; I really owe you for that.'

They set off up the corridor together.

'I wish there was something I could do for you about the Headless Hunt,' Elizabeth and Headless Nick stopped in his tracks and Elizabeth walked right through him, feeling as though she'd been drenched in ice-cold water.

'But there is something you could do for me,' said Nick excitedly. 'Elizabeth, would I be asking too much, but no, you wouldn't want …'

'What is it?' said Elizabeth.

'Well, this Halloween will be my five hundredth deathday,' said Nearly Headless Nick, drawing himself up and looking dignified.

'Oh,' said Elizabeth, not sure, whether she should look sorry or happy about this.

'I'm holding a party down in one of the roomier dungeons. Friends will be coming from all over the country. It would be such an honour if you would attend. Your friends would be most welcome, too, of course, but I daresay you'd rather go to the school feast?' He watched Elizabeth on tenterhooks.

'No,' said Elizabeth quickly, 'I'll come, at least for a little while.'

'My dear girl! Elizabeth Potter, at my deathday party! And," he hesitated, looking excited, "do you think you could possibly mention to Sir Patrick how very frightening and impressive you find me?'

'Ummm, ok, said Elizabeth.

Nearly Headless Nick beamed at her.

'A deathday party? 'Said Hermione keenly once Elizabeth had got to the dormitory had a shower and found dry clothes, 'not too many living people who can say they've been to one of those, it'll be fascinating!'

'Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?' said Ron, who was halfway through his Potions homework and grumpy. 'Sounds dead depressing to me…'

Charles spoke up and said, 'Nick did save Lizzie from Filch, so fairs fair, just remember to eat first as there won't be any food fit for living people. I remember Louisa telling me how she got invited to one by the Fat Friar a few years ago.'

Elizabeth was at the point of telling Ron, Charles, Fitzwilliam, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione about Filch and the Kwikspell course when Fred and George distracted everyone with there latest antics which had most of the room laughing as a salamander flew over their heads spraying multicoloured sparks from its mouth. By the time Halloween arrived, Elizabeth was regretting her promise to go to the deathday party, the great hall had been spectacularly decorated and rumours were flying over the entertainment that had been planned.

'A promise is a promise,' Hermione reminded Elizabeth bossily. 'You said you'd go to the deathday party.'

So after grabbing a few sandwiches from the kitchens, Elizabeth and her friends made their way to the party. The passageway leading to Nearly Headless Nick's party had been lined with candles, too, which cast an eerie blue white light over the corridor and the further they all walked, the colder the air became. As Elizabeth shivered and drew her robes tightly around herself, she heard what sounded like a thousand fingernails scraping an enormous blackboard.

'Is that supposed to be music?' Fitzwilliam whispered. They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick standing at a doorway hung with black velvet drapes.

'My dear friends,' he said mournfully. 'Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…'

He swept off his plumed hat and bowed them inside, it was an incredible sight. The dungeon was full of hundreds of pearly-white, translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor, waltzing to the dreadful, quavering sound of thirty musical saws, played by an orchestra on a raised, black-draped platform. A chandelier overhead blazed midnight blue with a thousand more black candles. Their breath rose in a mist before them; it was like stepping into a freezer.

'Shall we have a look around?' Elizabeth suggested to the others, wanting to warm up her feet.

'Careful not to walk through anyone,' said Charles nervously, and they set off around the edge of the dance floor. They passed a group of gloomy nuns, a ragged man wearing chains, and the Fat Friar, a cheerful Hufflepuff ghost, who was talking to a knight with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. Elizabeth wasn't surprised to see that the Bloody Baron, a gaunt, staring Slytherin ghost covered in silver bloodstains, was being given a wide berth by the other ghosts.

'Oh, no,' said Hermione, stopping abruptly. 'Turn back, turn back, I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle.'

'Myrtle, oh no?' Said Elizabeth, who had met the gaunt spirit of a witch who haunted the girls bathroom on the second floor.

'What's wrong with her?' asked Charles, 'she can't exactly help being dead.'

After Elizabeth spent a few minutes filling in the boys, Ron cast his eyes around and suddenly said, 'Look, food!'

On the other side of the dungeon was a long table, also covered in black velvet. They approached it eagerly but next moment had stopped in their tracks, horrified. The smell was quite disgusting. Large, rotten fish were laid on handsome silver platters; cakes, burned charcoal-black, were heaped on salvers; there was a great maggoty haggis, a slab of cheese covered in furry green mould and, in pride of place, an enormous gray cake in the shape of a tombstone, with tar-like icing forming the words,

SIR NICHOLAS DE MIMSY-PORPINGTON

DIED 31ST OCTOBER, 1492

Elizabeth watched, amazed, as a portly ghost approached the table, crouched low, and walked through it, his mouth held wide so that it passed through one of the stinking salmon.

'Can you taste it if you walk though it?' Elizabeth asked him.

'Almost,' said the ghost sadly, and he drifted away.

'I did warn you,' said Charles

They all turned and began walking when a little man swooped suddenly from under the table and came to a halt in midair before them. "Hello, Peeves," said Elizabeth cautiously.

'Nibbles?' he said sweetly, offering them a bowl of peanuts covered in fungus.

'No thanks,' said Jane.

'Heard you lot talking about poor Myrtle,' said Peeves, his eyes dancing.

'Rude you was about poor Myrtle." He took a deep breath and bellowed, 'OY! MYRTLE!'

'Oh, no, Peeves, don't tell her what we said, she'll be really upset,' Hermione whispered frantically. 'We didn't mean it, I don't mind her, err, hello, Myrtle.'

The squat ghost of a girl had glided over, she looked as miserable as Elizabeth had ever seen her and she wondered just what had made her so sad.

'How are you, Myrtle?' said Hermione in a falsely bright voice. 'It's nice to see you out of the toilet.'

Myrtle sniffed.

'Miss Granger was just talking about you,' said Peeves slyly in Myrtle's ear. 'Just saying, Just saying, saying, how nice you look tonight,' said Hermione, glaring at Peeves.

Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously.

'You're making fun of me,' she said, silver tears welling rapidly in her small, see-through eyes.

'No, honestly, didn't I just say how nice Myrtle's looking?' said Hermione, nudging Charles and Ron painfully in the ribs.

'Oh, indeed.'

'She did.'

'Don't lie to me,' Myrtle gasped, tears now flooding down her face, while Peeves chuckled happily over her shoulder. 'D'you think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!'

'You've forgotten pimply,' Peeves hissed in her ear.

Moaning Myrtle burst into anguished sobs and fled from the dungeon. Peeves shot after her, pelting her with mouldy peanuts, yelling, and 'Pimply! Pimply!'

'Oh, no,' said Charlotte sadly. She continued, 'Mum told me a bit about her, she was at school with her, said she got bullied a lot, never told me what killed her though.'

Nearly Headless Nick now drifted toward them through the crowd. 'Enjoying yourselves?' he asked.

'Not a bad turnout,' said Nearly Headless Nick proudly. 'The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent… It's nearly time for my speech; I'd better go and warn the orchestra…'

The orchestra, however, stopped playing at that very moment. They, and everyone else in the dungeon, fell silent, looking around in excitement, as a hunting horn sounded.

'Oh, here we go,' said Nearly Headless Nick bitterly.

Through the dungeon wall burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by a headless horseman. The assembly clapped wildly; Elizabeth and her friends started to clap, too, but stopped quickly at the sight of Nick's face. The horses galloped into the middle of the dance floor and halted, rearing and plunging. At the front of the pack was a large ghost who held his bearded head under his arm, from which position he was blowing the horn. The ghost leapt down, lifted his head high in the air so he could see over the crowd (everyone laughed), and strode over to Nearly Headless Nick, squashing his head back onto his neck.

'Nick!' he roared. 'How are you? Head still hanging in there?'

He gave a hearty guffaw and clapped Nearly Headless Nick on the shoulder.

'Welcome, Patrick,' said Nick stiffly.

'Live 'uns!' said Sir Patrick, spotting Elizabeth and the others giving a huge, fake jump of astonishment, so that his head fell off again (the crowd howled with laughter).

'Very amusing,' said Nearly Headless Nick darkly.

'Don't mind Nick!' shouted Sir Patrick's head from the floor. 'Still upset we won't let him join the Hunt! But I mean to say, look at the fellow.'

'I think,' said Elizabeth hurriedly, at a meaningful look from Nick, 'Nick's very frightening and, err.'

'Ha!' yelled Sir Patrick's head. 'Bet he asked you to say that!'

'If I could have everyone's attention, it's time for my speech!' said Nearly Headless Nick loudly, striding toward the podium and climbing into an icy blue spotlight.

'My late lamented lords, ladies, and gentlemen; it is my great sorrow…'

But nobody heard much more. Sir Patrick and the rest of the Headless Hunt had just started a game of Head Hockey and the crowd were turning to watch. Nearly Headless Nick tried vainly to recapture his audience, but gave up as Sir Patrick's head went sailing past him to loud cheers. Elizabeth was feeling freezing and so were the others as they huddled close together for warmth.

'I can't stand much more of this,' Ron muttered, his teeth chattering, as the orchestra ground back into action and the ghosts swept back onto the dance floor.

'Let's go,' suggested Fitzwilliam, 'maybe we can get into the feast still.'

They backed toward the door, nodding and beaming at anyone who looked at them, and a minute later were hurrying back up the passageway full of black candles. And then Elizabeth heard it, and felt the same evil presence she had sensed in Lockhart's office.

'… Rip… tear… kill…'

She stumbled to a halt, clutching at the stone wall, closing her eyes and listening

"Elizabeth, What is it?" asked Jane.

"It's that voice again; I can sense something nearby, but where?"

'… soo hungry… for so long…'

"There it is again, moving down the hall, and the others all froze, watching her.

'… Kill… time to kill…'

The voice was growing fainter. Elizabeth was sure it was moving away, heading upstairs. A sense of foreboding gripped her, was this the source of her dreams? What could move through a castle completely undetected that could be dangerous to people?

'This way,' she hissed, and began to run, up the stairs, into the entrance hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the Halloween feast was echoing out of the Great Hall. Elizabeth turned and headed up the stairs

'Lizzie, what're we?' said Charlotte.

'SHH!' Elizabeth strained her ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, she heard the voice: '… I smell blood… I SMELL BLOOD!'

Her stomach lurched. "It's going to attack someone!" and ignoring the looks from the others, she kept going up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen for the voice, Elizabeth searched the whole second floor and didn't find anything until suddenly, Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.

'Look!'

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE

'What's that thing — hanging underneath?' said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice.

As they edged nearer, Elizabeth almost slipped and Fitzwilliam grabbed her to stop her falling, and she smiled gratefully at him, and they all inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backward with a splash. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Ron said, 'Let's get out of here.'

'Shouldn't we try and help her,' Jane began awkwardly.

Charles looked gravely at her and said, 'I don't think there's anything we can do.'

'Trust me,' said Ron. 'We don't want to be found here.'

Everyone looked at each other and silently agreed, but it was too late to escape.

A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends. The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Elizabeth and her friends stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see the grisly sight of the cat hanging from the torch.

Then someone shouted through the quiet.

'Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!'

It was Pansy Parkinson; she had pushed to the front of the crowd, her face alive, a wicked grin on her face as she looked around at the cat and the crowd.


	9. Chapter 9

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter 9: The Writing on the Wall

'What's going on here? What's going on?'

Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.

'My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?' he shrieked, and then his popping eyes fell on Elizabeth.

'You!' he screeched. 'You murderess! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll …'

'Argus!'

Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past the crowd that had gathered and removed Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

'Come with me, Argus,' he said to Filch. 'You all follow me, he said to Elizabeth and her friends as Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.

'My office is nearest, Headmaster, just upstairs, please feel free.'

'Thank you, Gilderoy,' said Dumbledore.

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.

As they entered, Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Elizabeth saw several of the Lockhart's in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers and rolled her eyes in disgust. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her. Elizabeth and the others exchanged tense looks and sank into chairs outside the pool of candlelight, watching the headmaster work. The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, looking somewhat tense, his eyes fixed on Elizabeth, and all the while Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions about what had happened. Lockhart's comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands. Much as she detested Filch, Elizabeth couldn't help feeling pity for the man, but her main worry was for herself and her friends, if Dumbledore believed him, they were sunk. Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened.

'… I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou," said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once…'

'_Idiot, he wouldn't last a minute against something capable of doing this, here or there,' _thought Elizabeth.

The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement, as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net.

At last Dumbledore straightened up, 'She's not dead, Argus,' he said softly.

Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.

'Not dead?' choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. 'But why's she all, all stiff and frozen?'

'She has been Petrified,' said Dumbledore, 'ah! I thought so!' said Lockhart.

'But how, I cannot say…'

'Ask her!' shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Elizabeth.

'No second year could have done this, not even the most gifted students could at that age' said Dumbledore firmly. 'It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced.'

'She did it, she did it!' Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. 'You saw what she wrote on the wall! She found, in my office, she knows I'm a, I'm a,' Filch's face worked horribly. 'She knows I'm a Squib!' he finished.

'I never went near Mrs. Norris tonight.' Elizabeth said loudly, uncomfortably aware of everyone looking at her, including all the Lockhart's on the walls. 'And we only found her about a minute before you all showed up.'

'Rubbish!' snarled Filch. 'You were the only ones here.'

'If I might speak, Headmaster,' said Snape from the shadows, and Elizabeth felt relieved, as Snape would probably believe her.

'Potter and her friends were simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time,' he said, a slight look of amusement on his face. 'But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here, why was she in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't she at the Halloween feast?'

Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam, Charles, Jane, Charlotte, Ron and Hermione all launched into an explanation about the Deathday party.

'But why did you go up that corridor? It isn't on the direct pathway to the Gryffindor common room.'

Elizabeth looked at Snape and said, 'because I heard something sir, and I sensed evil heading this way, I've been feeling it for days, something long dormant is waking up.'

The professors all shuddered and Snape said, 'You all know that Potter does have some precognitive abilities.'

Dumbledore was giving Elizabeth a searching look, Elizabeth felt a familiar sensation of images flashing past her mind. 'I believe Miss Potter is correct in this matter Mr Filch,' Dumbledore said, and Elizabeth let out a breath she did not know she was holding.

'My cat has been Petrified!' he shrieked, his eyes popping. 'I want to see some punishment!' the old caretaker raged.

'We will be able to cure her, Argus,' said Dumbledore patiently. 'Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris.'

'I'll make it,' Lockhart butted in. 'I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep.'

'_Yeah right, and I'm the queen,' _thought Elizabeth sarcastically.

'Excuse me,' said Snape icily. 'But I believe I am the Potions master at this school.'

Elizabeth smiled at Snape, who returned it with one of his own.

'You may all go, Miss Potter, report any further visions to a professor,' Dumbledore said to Elizabeth and the others. They went, as quickly as they could, eager to put some distance between them and Filch and when they were a floor up from Lockhart's office, they turned into an empty classroom and closed the door quietly behind them, and Elizabeth looked at her friends' darkened faces.

'This is getting worse, what on earth is capable of this? And why do I get the feeling that the professors know more than they're letting on?' Elizabeth asked what seemed to be on everyone's minds.

Charlotte faced Elizabeth, her grim expression looking very alike to her mother and said, 'There can't be that many forces capable of causing petrification and I think they're all caused by dark magic or dark creatures. The professors probably don't want to worry us.'

'This whole things weird,' said Charles. 'What was that writing on the wall about? The Chamber Has Been Opened… What's that supposed to mean?'

'You know, it rings a sort of bell,' said Ron slowly. 'I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once… might've been Bill…'

Fitzwilliam nodded and said, 'Old Aunt Augusta told me and Georgiana that Salazar Slytherin tried to force the muggle borns out of the school, the others drove him out for it, she never told me about any hidden chamber though.'

A clock chimed somewhere.

'Midnight,' said Jane.

'We'd better get to bed before Filch comes along and tries to frame us for something else,' said Fitzwilliam.

For a few days, the school could talk of little else but the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might come back. Elizabeth had seen him scrubbing the message on the wall but to no avail, as it gleamed as ominously as the night somebody had daubed it onto the stones. When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like breathing loudly and looking happy.

Ginny Weasley seemed very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate, She was a great cat lover, Ron tried to cheer her up one day, "But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told her bracingly. "Honestly, we're much better off without her." Ginny's lip trembled. "Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts," Ron assured her. 'They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's expelled. I'm only joking,' Ron added hastily as Ginny blanched.

The mood in the castle seemed to get grimmer by the day and it all came to a head one day about a week after the attack. Elizabeth had been held back in Potions, where Snape had asked her to stay behind to talk about the recurring vision she kept on having of dark clouds billowing up from the castle and a sinister looking dark haired wizard in Hogwarts uniform walking though the halls. After a hurried lunch, Elizabeth went upstairs to meet Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam in the library, and saw Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming toward her. Elizabeth had just opened her mouth to greet him, when Justin took one look at her and turned pale before he sped off in the opposite direction.

Elizabeth found Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam at the back of the library, measuring his homework.

'I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short,' said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll. 'And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny.'

'Where is she?' Asked Elizabeth

'Somewhere over there,' said Ron, pointing along the shelves. 'Looking for another book, I think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas.'

Elizabeth told Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from her.

'Dunno why you care Lizzie, I thought he was a bit of an idiot,' said Ron, scribbling away, making his writing as large as possible. 'he's fanatical about Lockhart.'

Charles looked up from his work and said, 'he's just being stupid Lizzy, anybody who knows you would realise you wouldn't attack Mrs Norris.'

Elizabeth smiled at him, but didn't reply as Hermione and Jane emerged from between the bookshelves, Hermione looked peeved and burst out.

'All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out,' she said, sitting down with the group, 'and there's a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but we couldn't fit it in our trunks with all the Lockhart books.'

'Why do you want it?' asked Fitzwilliam.

'The same reason everyone else wants it," said Jane, "to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.'

'What's that?' asked Charles quickly.

'That's just it. I can't remember,' said Hermione, biting her lip, 'and I can't find the story anywhere else.'

Ron and Hermione got into their usual bickering match over Ron's homework just as Charlotte came and found them and the bell rang for class. History of Magic was the dullest subject on their schedule, Professor Binns, who taught it, was their only ghost teacher, and the most exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the room through the blackboard. Ancient and shrivelled, many people said he hadn't noticed he was dead. He had simply got up to teach one day and left his body behind him in an armchair in front of the staff room fire; his routine had not varied in the slightest since. The days lecture was as boring as ever Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming to long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again. He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened that had never happened for at least the whole time Elizabeth had been at Hogwarts. Hermione put up her hand.

Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.

'Miss, err?'

'Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets,' said Hermione in a clear voice. The whole class began to wake from their slumber and Elizabeth looked up from her book and turned her gaze to the spectral teacher floating above the lectern.

Professor Binns blinked. 'My subject is History of Magic,' he said in his dry, wheezy voice. 'I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends.' He cleared his throat with a small noise like chalk slipping and continued, 'In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers.'

He stuttered to a halt. Jane's hand was waving in air besides her sisters

'Miss Grant?'

'Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?' Asked Jane.

Professor Binns was looking at her in such amazement, Elizabeth was sure no student had ever interrupted him before, alive or dead. 'Well,' said Professor Binns slowly, 'yes, one could argue that, I suppose.' He peered at Hermione and Jane as though he had never seen students properly before. 'However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale.'

But the whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns's every word. He looked dimly at them all, every face turned to his. Elizabeth could tell he was completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest.

'Oh, very well,' he said slowly. 'Let me see… the Chamber of Secrets…

You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago, the precise date is uncertain, by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.'

He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued.

'For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school.'

Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise. 'Reliable historical sources tell us this much,' he said. 'But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.'

There was silence as he finished telling the story, but it wasn't the usual, sleepy silence that filled Professor Binns's classes. There was unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him, hoping for more. Professor Binns looked faintly annoyed.

'The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course,' he said. 'Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible.'

Hermione's hand was back in the air.

'Sir, what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?'

'That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control,' said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy voice.

The class exchanged nervous looks.

'I tell you, the thing does not exist,' said Professor Binns, shuffling his notes. 'There is no Chamber and no monster.'

'But, sir,' said Seamus Finnigan, if the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?'

'Nonsense, O'Flaherty,' said Professor Binns in an aggravated tone. 'If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing.'

'But, Professor,' piped up Parvati Patil, 'you'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it.'

'Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't, Miss Pennyfeather,' snapped Professor Binns. 'I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore or Dippet.'

'But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't.' began Dean Thomas, but Professor Binns had had enough.

'That will do,' he said sharply. 'It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!'

And within five minutes, most of the class had dropped off into Morpheus's embrace.

'I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony,' Ron told Elizabeth as they fought their way through the teeming corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before dinner. 'But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home…'

Hermione nodded fervently, but Elizabeth didn't say anything, her stomach had just clenched unpleasantly. The dreams she had seen of the evil rising from the castle all seemed to tie into the legend. A hidden chamber? A monster that could be controlled? It all seemed to make a certain macabre sense. She swallowed nervously, Jane and Charlotte saw the look on her face, and Jane said, 'It's alright Lizzy, we'll get through this.'

As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevey went past. 'Hiya, Lizzy!'

'Hullo, Colin,' said Elizabeth automatically.

'Lizzy, Lizzy, a boy in my class has been saying you're.'

However, Colin was so small he couldn't fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, 'See you, Lizzy!' and he was gone.

'What's a boy in his class saying about you?' Charlotte wondered.

'That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect,' said Elizabeth gloomily, remembering the way Justin Finch-Fletchley had run away from her at lunchtime.

Fitzwilliam spoke up and said, 'But hang on, doesn't the legend say heir? Not heiress?'

The girls all glared at him and he fell silent, the crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase without difficulty.

'D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?' Ron asked Hermione.

'I don't know,' she said, frowning. 'Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be, well, human.'

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened, they stopped and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened._

'That's where Filch has been keeping guard,' Ron muttered.

They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.

'Can't hurt to have a poke around,' said Charles, dropping his bag and getting to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching for clues.

'Scorch marks!' he said. 'Here and here.'

'Come and look at this!' said Hermione. 'This is funny…'

Elizabeth walked over to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.

'Have you ever seen spiders act like that?' said Hermione wonderingly.

'No,' said Elizabeth, 'have you, Ron? Ron?'

He looked over his shoulder. Ron was standing well back and seemed to be fighting the impulse to run.

'What's wrong?' asked Elizabeth.

'I, don't, like, spiders,' said Ron tensely.

'I never knew that,' said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. 'You've used spiders in Potions loads of times…'

'I don't mind them dead,' said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. 'I just don't like the way they move…'

Hermione and Jane giggled.

'It's not funny,' said Ron, fiercely. 'If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my, my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick… You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and…'

He broke off, shuddering. Hermione was obviously still trying not to laugh.

Feeling they had better get off the subject, Elizabeth said, 'Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up.'

'It was about here,' said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing. 'Level with this door.'

He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he had been burned. 'What's the matter Ron?' said Fitzwilliam.

'Can't go in there,' said Ron gruffly, 'that's a girls' toilet.'

'Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there,' said Hermione standing up and coming over, 'that's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look.'

And ignoring the large OUT OF ORDER sign, she opened the door and led the way inside. Hermione put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall. When she reached it she said, 'Hello, Myrtle, how are you?'

Elizabeth and the others went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin. 'This is a girls' bathroom,' she said, eyeing Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam with suspicion. 'They're not girls.'

'No," Hermione agreed. 'I just wanted to show them how err, nice it is in here.'

She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor.

'Ask her if she saw anything, 'Fitzwilliam mouthed at Hermione.

'What are you whispering?' said Myrtle, staring at him.

'Nothing,' said Fitzwilliam quickly. 'We wanted to ask.'

'I wish people would stop talking behind my back!' said Myrtle, in a voice choked with tears. 'I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead.'

'Myrtle, no one wants to upset you,' said Hermione. 'We only …'

'No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!' howled Myrtle. 'My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!'

'We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately,' said Hermione quickly. 'Because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween.'

'Did you see anyone near here that night?' said Elizabeth.

'I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. 'Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm that I'm.'

'Already dead,' said Ron helpfully.

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.

The boys all stood open mouthed but Hermione shrugged wearily and said, 'Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle… Come on, let's go.'

They left the bathroom only to be caught by Percy who dressed them all down, docked five points, and threatened to write Mrs Weasley before walking off. Elizabeth and the others sat down as far as possible from Percy in the common room that night. Ron was still in a very bad temper and kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his wand to remove the smudges, it caught on fire before Charlotte repaired it with a flick of her wand. Ron's bad mood was almost tangible as he slammed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut. Charles and Fitzwilliam as well as Hermione and the rest of the girls following suit immediately after.

'Who can it be, though?' Hermione said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. 'Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?'

'Let's think,' said Ron in mock puzzlement. 'Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?'

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

'If you're talking about Malfoy.'

'Of course I am!' said Ron. 'You heard him, 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him.'

Charles looked at Ron and said, 'it's no secret the Malfoy's are blood supremacists, but have they got the power to pull this off?'

Charlotte joined in and said, 'Are the Malfoys an old enough family? They're pure blood all right, but they're not an ancient and noble house.'

Fitzwilliam nodded and said, 'True, but they are connected by marriage to the Blacks and they are old enough.'

'Well,' said Hermione cautiously, ' I suppose it's possible…'

Jane, ever the fair-minded soul she was added, 'We can't go and accuse him with no evidence, yes he has the motive, but so does most of Slytherin.'

'But how do we prove it one way or another,' said Charlotte darkly.

'There might be a way,' said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. 'Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect.'

'If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?' said Ron irritably.

'All right,' said Hermione coldly. 'What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us.'

'But that's impossible Hermione,' Charles said as Ron laughed.

'No, it's not,' said Hermione. 'All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion.'

'That's insane,' said Elizabeth, 'it's a NEWT level potion and the recipe's restricted.'

Ron and Charles looked puzzled while Fitzwilliam's expression told Elizabeth that he knew about the potion, and so they told Ron and Charles about the potion.

'This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me,' said Ron, frowning. 'What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?'

'It wears off after a while,' said Hermione, waving her hand impatiently. 'But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library.' There was only one way to get out a book from the Restricted Section: You needed a signed note of permission from a teacher.

'Hard to see why we'd want the book, really,' said Ron, 'if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions.'

'I think,' said Jane, 'that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance…'

'Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that,' said Ron. 'They'd have to be really thick…'

Elizabeth smiled and said, 'I think I know just the man who'd probably give us the note, only problem is that he knows I hate him.'

Ron looked at Elizabeth and said, 'Who?'

"


	10. Chapter 10

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter 10: The Rogue Bludger

Since the disastrous lesson with the Pixies Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read his own books out loud and picking people to re-enact bits. Elizabeth hadn't been chosen, as Lockhart had seemed to realise that she hated him. Now she watched as Charles was chosen to act the part of a werewolf, and hoped that their scheme would work and a moment later, it began as the class ended.

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

'Homework, compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!'

The class began to leave, Charles walked back to the group who were waiting for him returned to the back of the room.

'Ready?' Elizabeth whispered to Hermione.

'Wait till everyone's gone,' said Hermione nervously. 'All right…'

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand, Elizabeth and the others standing a bit to the side.

'Err …Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to — to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading.' She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. 'But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it, I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms.'

'Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. 'Possibly my very favorite book. You enjoyed it?'

'Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer.'

'Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help,' said Lockhart warmly, and he pulled out an enormous peacock quill. 'Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the revolted looks on Ron's and Fitzwilliam's faces. 'I usually save it for book-signings.'

He scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione.

'So, Elizabeth," said Lockhart, while Hermione folded the note with fumbling fingers and slipped it into her bag. "Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you are a useful player. I was a Seeker, too. I was asked to try for the National Squad, but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the Dark Forces. Still, if ever you feel the need for a little private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players…'

Elizabeth made an indistinct noise in her throat and thought, _'him a Quidditch player, Neville would probably play better than him.'_

She then hurried off after Ron and Hermione, desperate to put some distance between her and the incompetent fool.

'I don't believe it," said Charles as the group examined the signature on the note. "He didn't even look at the book we wanted.'

Charlotte added, 'if people realise this, the Slytherins could read a lot of nasty books, if they're not doing it anyway.'

'That's because he's a brainless git," said Ron. "But who cares, we've got what we needed.'

'He is not a brainless git,' said Hermione shrilly as they half ran toward the library.

'Just because he said you were the best student of the year.'

They dropped their voices as they entered the muffled stillness of the library. Madam Pince, the librarian, was a thin, irritable woman who looked like an underfed vulture.

"Moste Potente Potions?" she repeated suspiciously, trying to take the note from Hermione; but Hermione wouldn't let go. 'I was wondering if I could keep it,' she said breathlessly.

'Oh, come on,' said Ron, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it at Madam Pince. 'We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough.'

Madam Pince held the note up to the light, as though determined to detect a forgery, but it passed the test. She stalked away between the lofty shelves and returned several minutes later carrying a large and moldy-looking book. Hermione put it carefully into her bag and they all left, hoping nobody figured out their plans.

Five minutes later, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of-order bathroom once again. Hermione had overridden Ron's objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy. Moaning Myrtle was nearby but paying them no mind as Hermione opened Moste Potente Potions carefully and the three of them bent over the damp-spotted pages. It was clear from a glance why it belonged in the Restricted Section, with some very nasty potions included in the pages.

'Here it is,' said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people. Elizabeth really hoped that the artist had imagined the looks of intense pain on their faces.

'This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen,' said Hermione as they scanned the recipe. Elizabeth scanned the ingredients and directions and had to agree as Hermione spoke. 'Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass,' she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. 'Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store-cupboard, we can help ourselves… Oooh, look, powdered horn of a bicorn — don't know where we're going to get that, shredded skin of a boomslang, that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whomever we want to change into.'

'Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it.'

Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him.

'We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last…'

Fitzwilliam then added in, 'We'll also need to incapacitate enough Slytherins to impersonate without doing anything too dramatic, that'll be tricky.'

Ron turned, speechless, to Elizabeth, who had another worry.

'This isn't going to work, Hermione? Shredded skin of a boomslang, which is definitely not in the students' cupboard, where can we get that? I don't think Snape would give that to us.'

Hermione shut the book with a snap.

'Well, if you are all going to chicken out, fine,' she said. There were bright pink patches on her cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual. 'I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in.'

Jane looked around at them all and said, 'We don't have a choice, but couldn't you use your metamorphic abilities Lizzie?'

Elizabeth sighed and said, 'No, I don't have the talent as strong as Tonks.'

'I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us all to break rules," said Ron. "All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?'

'How long will it take to make, anyway?' said Fitzwilliam as Hermione, looking happier, opened the book again.

Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days… I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients.'

'A month?" said Ron. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!' However, Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously again, and he added swiftly, 'But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say.'

However, while Charlotte was checking that the coast was clear for them to leave the bathroom, Ron muttered to Lizzie, 'You know Lizzie It'll be a lot less hassle if you can just knock Malfoy off his broom tomorrow.'

Elizabeth woke early the next morning and lay for a while thinking about the coming Quidditch match. She was nervous, partly at the thought of what Wood would say if Gryffindor lost, but also at the idea of facing a team mounted on the fastest racing brooms money could buy, she had never wanted to beat Slytherin so badly. After a while, Elizabeth rose and got dressed and went down to breakfast early, where she found the rest of the Gryffindor team huddled at the long, empty table waiting for her, all looking as nervous as she felt. As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. Hermione and the others all came hurrying over to wish Elizabeth good luck as she entered the locker rooms. The team pulled on their gear, and then sat down to listen to Wood's usual pre-match pep talk.

'Slytherin has better brooms than us,' he began. 'No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers '('Too true," muttered George Weasley. 'I haven't been properly dry since August') 'and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team.'

Chest heaving with emotion, Wood turned to Elizabeth.

'It'll be down to you, Elizabeth, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Finish the game quick before they can use their brooms too much.'

'So no pressure, Lizzie,' said Fred, winking at her.

As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them; mainly cheers, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were anxious to see Slytherin beaten, but the Slytherins in the crowd made their boos and hisses heard, too. Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. 'Three… two… one…'

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Elizabeth flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch, agreeing with Wood that a quick game would suit their interests best.

'All right there, Scarhead?' yelled Malfoy, shooting underneath her as though to show off the speed of his broom.

Elizabeth had no time to reply. At that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came out of nowhere and headed straight for her; she dove quickly but felt it brush past her hair as it went past.

'Close one, Lizzie, hang on I've got it!' said George, streaking past her with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin player. Elizabeth saw George hit the bludger squarely with his bat and saw it fly in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction and started coming back at Elizabeth again. Elizabeth barrel rolled to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard toward Malfoy, but once again, the Bludger swerved and came at Elizabeth like a missile.

Elizabeth drove her broom flat out trying to shake the bludger; she could hear it behind her, '_What on earth's wrong with this thing? It's like it's locked onto me.'_

Fred Weasley was waiting for the Bludger; Elizabeth ducked as Fred swung his bat over Elizabeth's head and hit the Bludger, sending it out towards the Slytherin chasers

'Gotcha!' Fred yelled happily, but he was wrong; as once again it came back onto it's trajectory. The rain began to fall which cut visibility to barely a few meters around. Elizabeth soon didn't have a clue what was going on in the rest of the game until she heard Lee Jordan, 'Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero.'

The Slytherins' superior brooms were clearly doing their jobs, and meanwhile the mad Bludger was doing all it could to shoot Elizabeth down, Fred and George were now flying so close to her on either side that Elizabeth couldn't see anything else that was happening around her.

'Someone's, tampered, with, this, Bludger ,' Fred grunted, swinging his bat with all his might at it as it once again tried to turn Elizabeth's broom to matchwood.

'We need time out,' said George, trying to signal to Wood and stop the Bludger breaking Elizabeth's nose at the same time. Wood had got the message. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Elizabeth, Fred, and George headed for the ground, still trying to avoid the rigged Bludger.

'What's going on?" said Wood as the Gryffindor team huddled together, while Slytherins in the crowd jeered. "We're being trounced. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?'

'We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Lizzie, Oliver," said George angrily. 'Someone's fixed it, it's been following her all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it.'

Elizabeth, her chest heaving with the adrenalin turned to her captain and said, 'it's been cursed or something.'

'But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then…' said Wood, anxiously.

Madam Hooch was walking toward them. Over her shoulder, Elizabeth could see the Slytherin team jeering and pointing in her direction.

'Listen,' said Elizabeth as she came nearer and nearer, 'with you two circling me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies into me, go back to the others and let me deal with the rogue one.'

'Don't be thick Lizzie,' said Fred. 'It'll take your head off, and mum would kill us.'

Wood was looking from Elizabeth to the Weasley's.

'Oliver, this is madness,' said Alicia Spinner angrily. 'You can't let Lizzie deal with that thing on her own. Let's ask for an inquiry and new bludgers…'

'If we stop now, we'll loose by default said Elizabeth.' And we're not losing to Slytherin just because Pansy or Malfoy thought it'd be funny to curse that bludger to attack me, come on, Oliver, and tell them to help the others. If we win, we can get the Slytherins back for this later.'

'This is all your fault, you stupid fool,' George said angrily to Wood. ''Get the Snitch or die trying,' what a stupid thing to tell her.'

Madam Hooch had joined them.

'Ready to resume play?' she asked Wood.

Wood looked at the determined look on Elizabeth's face. 'All right,' he said. 'Fred, George, you heard Lizzie, leave her alone and let her handle that bludger.'

The conditions were getting worse as the game continued. On Madam Hooch's whistle, Elizabeth kicked hard into the air and soon heard the bludger coming for her, but no matter what she tried she couldn't shake it and could hear laughter from the crowd as she knew he must look very stupid, but Elizabeth soon found that since the rogue Bludger was heavy and couldn't change direction as quickly as she could she tried to use abrupt changes in course to keep it off her as she swept through the players. A whistling in Elizabeth's ear told him the Bludger had just missed her as she turned and headed upwards.

'Training for the ballet, Potter?' yelled Malfoy as Elizabeth was forced to pirouette in midair to dodge the Bludger, and then pulled up, the Bludger trailing a few feet behind her. But at that moment, glaring back at Malfoy in hatred, she saw it, the Golden Snitch. It was hovering inches above Malfoy's left ear, and Malfoy, busy laughing at Elizabeth's misfortune, hadn't noticed it.

For a split second Elizabeth hung in midair, not daring to speed toward Malfoy in case he looked up and saw the Snitch, but unfortunately for her, that was all it took. With a thud and a cracking noise, Elizabeth screamed in pain as the bludger struck her elbow. Dimly, dazed by the searing pain in her arm, she slid sideways on her rain drenched broom, one knee still crooked over it, her right arm dangling useless at her side and the Bludger came pelting back again, this time zooming at her face, Elizabeth swerved out of the way, and shot straight at Malfoy. Through a haze of rain and pain, she dived for the shimmering, sneering face below her and saw its eyes widen with fear: Malfoy obviously thought that Elizabeth was attacking him.

'What the,' he gasped, careening out of Elizabeth's way.

Elizabeth took her left hand off and just managed to grab the snitch before she sank into a parabolic trajectory and hit the ground and rolled off the broom, coming to a stop, flat on her back gazing up at the green and red blurs flying overhead.

Her arm was hanging at a very strange angle; riddled with pain, she heard, as though from a distance, a good deal of whistling and shouting as she realized that the game was over.

'Oh,' She said vaguely. 'Did we win?'

And her vision went black as she passed out.

Elizabeth came around, rain falling on her body, still lying on the field where she'd fallen, hearing the roaring of the crowd and feeling the thuds of people coming towards her, and realized that someone was leaning over her. She saw a glitter of teeth.

'Oh, no, not you get away from me you fool,' she moaned.

'Doesn't know what she's saying,' said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them. 'Not to worry, Elizabeth. I'm about to fix your arm.'

'No!' said Elizabeth. "For once do something right and get me to the hospital wing."

She tried to push herself up but the pain was terrible and slumped back, and heard a familiar clicking noise nearby.

'No Colin, get that camera away.'

'Lie back, Elizabeth," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times.'

'Get away from me this instant,' said Elizabeth through clenched teeth.

'She really should get to Madam Pomfrey, Professor,' said a muddy Wood, who couldn't help grinning even though his Seeker was injured. 'Great capture Elizabeth, really spectacular, your best yet, I'd say.'

Through the tangle of legs around her, Elizabeth spotted Fred and George Weasley, wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box. It was still putting up a terrific fight.

'Stand back,' said Lockhart, who was rolling up his jade-green sleeves.

'No, don't.' said Elizabeth scared of what the idiotic Professor might do, but Lockhart was twirling his wand and a second later had directed it straight at Elizabeth's arm. A strange and unpleasant sensation started at Elizabeth's right shoulder and spread all the way down to her fingertips. It felt as though her arm was being deflated. She didn't dare look at what was happening and hoped whatever mistake he was making wasn't too bad. She shut her eyes, her face turned away from her arm, but her worst fears were soon realized as the people above her gasped and Colin Creevey began clicking away madly. Her arm didn't hurt anymore but neither did it feel remotely like an arm to her.

'Ah,' said Lockhart. 'Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken and you don't feel any pain. That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Elizabeth, just head up to the hospital wing, ah, Mr. Weasley, Mr Longbottom, Mr Peterson, Miss's Granger and Miss McGonagall would you escort her. And Madam Pomfrey will be able to err tidy her up a bit.'

As Fitzwilliam and Jane helped her get to her feet, she felt strangely out of balance as though part of her being had been stripped away. Taking a deep breath she looked down at her right side, what she saw nearly made her stomach heave.

Poking out of the end of her robes was what looked like a thick, flesh-colored rubber glove, Lockhart had removed her bones.

Madam Pomfrey was acting like an angry bear when Elizabeth arrived in the hospital wing…

'You should have been brought straight to me!" she raged, holding up the sad, limp remainder of what, half an hour before, had been a working arm. "I can mend bones in a heartbeat, but growing them back'

'You will be able to, won't you?' said Elizabeth desperately.

'I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful,' said Madam Pomfrey grimly, throwing Elizabeth a nightdress.

'You'll have to stay the night, were it not for my taking the Hippocratic Oath, I would hunt that fool down for this myself…'

Fitzwilliam and the other boys waited outside the curtain while Jane helped her change.

'I can't believe this,' seethed Charlotte as she and the others came and looked down at Elizabeth a few minutes later. "Assault, Gross negligence, malpractice. The man's a danger to us all, how can you possibly defend him now Hermione?'

'Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione. "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Lizzie?'

"No," said Elizabeth, looking up at her. 'But it doesn't do anything else either.'

Elizabeth looked around at her friends, all of them looked grim, even Jane who said, 'He has gone too far Mione, what will it take before everyone realises what he is?'

Fitzwilliam had that steely look on his face that Elizabeth had only seen a few times and when their eyes met something seemed to pass between them and he said,

'He must be stopped, I think it's time we cooped the twins, and if anybody can show him he doesn't belong here it's them.'

Everyone laughed except Hermione who looked a bit sad but nodded in acceptance but fell silent as Madam Pomfrey came around the curtain. Madam Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of something labelled Skele-Gro.

'You're in for a rough night I'm afraid Potter," she said, pouring out a steaming beakerful and handing it to her. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business.'

So was taking the Skele-Gro. It burned Elizabeth's mouth and throat as it went down, making her cough and splutter as she thought, '_Tastes like fermented herring dipped in cat piss, bleugh!_'

Still tut-tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey retreated, as Fitzwilliam passed Elizabeth a glass of water, which she drank gratefully. "We won, though," said Ron, a grin breaking across his face. 'That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face… he looked ready to kill…'

'I want to know how he fixed that Bludger,' said Charles darkly.

Charlotte was nodding, 'I've never seen anything like that, and mum and dad have taken me to plenty of games.'

'We'll add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," said Elizabeth, sinking back onto her pillows. "I just hope it tastes better than this stuff…'

'If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking,' said Ron.

The door of the hospital wing burst open at that moment. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see Elizabeth, and were in awe of her performance, Madam Pomfrey drove most of them out quickly but before Fred and George, left they sat down on either side of her and the twins began.

'Don't worry Princess; we'll get him for you….'

'That peacock has gone too far this time…..'

'He'll soon pay the price for that arm…..'

Elizabeth blushed and smiled at them and said, 'give him hell from me, I'd do it myself, but with this.' She gestured vaguely at her arm.

The twins both said, "As her highness pleases." Bowed and left and Elizabeth fell asleep laughing at their antics. Hours and hours later, she woke quite suddenly in the pitch-blackness and hissed in pain, her arm now felt full of large splinters. For a second, she thought that was what had woken her up. Then, with a thrill of horror, she realized that someone was sponging her forehead in the dark.

'Get off!' she said loudly, and then, "Dobby!"

The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Elizabeth through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose.

'Elizabeth Potter came back to school,' he whispered miserably. 'Dobby warned and warned Elizabeth Potter. Ah, miss, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Elizabeth Potter go back home when she missed the train?'

Elizabeth heaved herself up on her pillows and seized Dobby by the pillowcase with her good hand and said, "It was you!" she said slowly. 'You stopped the barrier from letting us through!'

'Indeed yes, miss!' said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping.' Dobby hid and watched for Elizabeth Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward'— he showed Elizabeth ten long, bandaged fingers — 'but Dobby didn't care, miss, for he thought Elizabeth Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Elizabeth Potter would get to school another way!'

He was twitching in her grasp as he continued.

'Dobby was so shocked when he heard Elizabeth Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, miss…'

Elizabeth felt her grip tighten and didn't notice the glow begin to form around her, but Dobby did as his eyes widened as Elizabeth hissed.

'You nearly got Ron and me expelled,' she said fiercely. 'You'd better keep away from me or I'll rip you to shreds.'

Dobby smiled weakly. 'Dobby is used to death threats, miss. Dobby gets them five times a day at home.'

He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking so pathetic that Elizabeth felt her anger ebb away as she let him go.

Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, 'Elizabeth Potter must go home! Dobby thought her Bludger would be enough to make.'

'Your Bludger?' said Elizabeth, anger raising once more as she head several water jugs nearby shatter. 'You fixed that bludger? Are you trying to inhume me?'

'Not kill you, miss, never kill you!' said Dobby, shocked. 'Dobby wants to save Elizabeth Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here miss!

'Oh, is that all?' said Elizabeth angrily, as a window nearby shattered. 'I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you wanted me sent home in pieces?'

'Ah, if Elizabeth Potter only knew!' Dobby groaned, more tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase. 'If she knew what she means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, miss! We house-elves were treated like vermin, miss! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, miss,' he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase. 'But mostly, miss, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Elizabeth Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, miss, and Elizabeth Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end, and now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Elizabeth Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more.'

Dobby froze, horror-struck, then grabbed Elizabeth's water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight. A second later, he crawled back onto the bed, cross-eyed, muttering, 'Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby…'

'So the chamber has been opened before? Who did it last time?'

She seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched toward the water jug. 'I'm not Muggle-born, how can I be in danger from the Chamber?'

'Ah, miss, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby,' stammered the elf, his eyes huge in the dark. 'Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Elizabeth Potter must not be here when they happen, go home, Elizabeth Potter, go home. Elizabeth Potter must not meddle in this, miss, 'tis too dangerous.'

'I'm not going anywhere!' Said Elizabeth fiercely, shards of glass pelting straight at Dobby who had to duck to avoid being decapitated. 'Two of my best friends are Muggle-born; they'll be first in line if the Chamber really has been opened.'

'Elizabeth Potter risks her own life for her friends!' moaned Dobby in a kind of miserable ecstasy. 'So noble! So valiant! But she must save herself, she must, Elizabeth Potter must not.'

Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Elizabeth heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside. Quickly Elizabeth grabbed her wand with her left hand, started casting reparo charms, and fixed the glass she had smashed. 'Dobby must go!' breathed the elf, terrified, there was a loud crack, and Dobby disappeared into thin air. Elizabeth put her wand away and laid back down, her eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer. Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.

'Get Madam Pomfrey,' whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Elizabeth's bed out of sight. Elizabeth lay quite still, pretending to be asleep. She heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. She heard a sharp intake of breath.

'What happened?' Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.

'Another attack,' said Dumbledore. 'Minerva found him on the stairs.'

'There was a bunch of grapes and a bunch of flowers next to him,' said Professor McGonagall. 'We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter.'

Elizabeth's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, she raised herself a few inches so she could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face. It was Colin Creevey. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera.

'Petrified?' whispered Madam Pomfrey.

'Yes,' said Professor McGonagall. 'But I shudder to think… If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate, who knows what might have.'

The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.

'You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?' said Professor McGonagall eagerly.

Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.

'Good gracious!' said Madam Pomfrey.

A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Elizabeth, three beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.

'Melted,' said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. 'All melted…'

'What does this mean, Albus?' Professor McGonagall asked urgently.

'It means,' said Dumbledore, 'that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again.'

Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore. 'But, Albus… surely… who?'

'The question is not who,' said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin. 'The question is, how…' And from what Elizabeth could see of Professor McGonagall's shadowy face, she didn't understand this any better than Elizabeth did.


	11. Chapter 11

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: I'm glad to see the support I've been getting in terms of views and visits and the people who've been reviewing but as always more legit reviews would be nice. I hope I do justice to what people have been hoping for with the duelling club and the pranks on Lockhart, don't worry there's plenty more action coming in the next few chapters._

Chapter 11: The Dueling Club

Elizabeth woke up early on the day after the Quidditch game to find the hospital deserted, Colin's bed obscured by a screen and her arm feeling stiff. Noticing Elizabeth stir, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray and checked Elizabeth's arm before informing her she could leave when she finished eating. However when she finished her breakfast she was surprised when Professor Snape strode in, a satisfied smirk on his face as he looked down at Elizabeth as he sat by her bed and said.

'Good morning Elizabeth, are you well?'

Elizabeth smiled at him and said, 'Yes sir, thank you.'

The Professor cleared his throat and said, 'Good, I'm glad to hear it, I just thought you should know. I am sorry I didn't stop that fool Lockhart, but if it's any consolation, Albus has placed him on probation for the remainder of this year. He'll need approval, for any new activity and if he so much as looks at you in a funny way again, he'll be out of the castle.'

Elizabeth replied, 'thank you sir, but what happened lat night? I heard somebody being brought in.'

Professor Snape's face turned grim and he said, 'A first year boy was petrified, by the same force which struck Argus's cat. The professor's are investigating and I am begging you, try and keep your head down Elizabeth, I could never forgive myself if you should fall victim to this.'

Elizabeth nodded meekly and the Professor smiled put a hand on her shoulder and said, 'Good girl, you just concentrate on your classes now and your Quidditch. Rest assured, I will do what I can to ensure yesterday's events are not repeated.'

He squeezed her shoulder in a friendly way and then walked off before Elizabeth got out of bed and got dressed before heading off to look for her friends wondering where they had to and why they hadn't come to meet her. As Elizabeth passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it and unknowing gave the hint that everyone was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and sure enough when she got there she found the group clustered inside where Hermione had rigged up a cauldron and the others were preparing ingredients.

'We would have come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion,' Ron explained.'

'The sooner we get started the sooner it's done,' said Fitzwilliam

'How's the arm Lizzie?' Asked Jane.

Elizabeth smiled and said, 'its ok, a little stiff though.'

'We've decided this is the safest place to hide the potion.' said Charlotte, 'nobody ever comes in here, not even the Professors.'

Elizabeth started to tell them about Colin, but Hermione interrupted.

'We already know, we heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick this morning.'

'That's why we decided we'd better get going,' added Jane.

'The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better,' snarled Ron. 'D'you know what I think? He was in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match; he took it out on Colin.'

'There is something else,' said Elizabeth, watching Hermione and Charles tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion.' Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night.'

Everyone looked amazed as Elizabeth told them everything Dobby had told her or hadn't told him.

'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?' Hermione said.

'This settles it,' said Charles in a triumphant voice. 'Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber and now he's taught Draco how to do it, it's obvious. Wish Dobby'd told you what kind of monster's in there, though. What I want to know is how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school?'

'Maybe it can make itself invisible,' said Hermione, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. Or maybe it can disguise itself, pretend to be a suit of armour or something; I've read about Chameleon Ghouls.'

'You read too much, Hermione,' said Ron. Elizabeth looked around and said, 'I think Pansy's mixed up in this too, don't forget what I head in Borgin and Burkes.'

Elizabeth spent some time reminding them and the whole group agreed that even if the two were not involved they knew something about it. The news of the attack spread around the castle increasing the climate of fear already in the air as people began moving in groups and clandestine trade in protective devices swept through the school. However the fear was somewhat tempered as a new wave of pranks began targeting Professor Lockhart in the weeks after the Quidditch game. He had been sent to the hospital wing three times with some rather embarrassing ailments, which included: extreme flatulence, loss of bladder and bowel control, baldness and a prank, which made him, sound like he had been breathing helium. A paint bomb had spattered his classroom all the colours of the rainbow and ruined his pictures, the paint defying all magical methods of removal. He had been turned into a fairy complete with wand and wings in front of Elizabeth's class, and lastly, somebody had gone through the castle and enchanted almost every gargoyle inside the building to hurl insults whenever he walked past. He soon became so jumpy that he would flinch at just about any sign of movement.

Ginny Weasley, Maria McGonagall and Georgiana Longbottom were all feeling sad about Colin was a friend of theirs, but Elizabeth felt that Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering them up and their antics were only stopped when Percy threatened to write Mrs Weasley and Professor McGonagall had given them both detention. Not long before term ended, Professor McGonagall came around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Elizabeth, Ron, Jane and Hermione all signed her list and they had heard that Malfoy and Pansy were staying, which struck them as very suspicious as usually both would leave the school for the holidays and so it was decided that the holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of them both. Elizabeth had come up with a rather simple solution to the missing ingredients and had sent Hedwig to get them by owl order, which arrived a few days later. The group carried on with their lessons and as soon as they had a chance, they took the package up to the bathroom and added the last ingredients. A week later, Elizabeth and her friends were walking across the entrance hall when they saw a small knot of people gathered around the notice board, reading a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas beckoned them over, looking excited.

'They're starting a Dueling Club!' said Seamus. 'First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind duelling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days…'

'What, you reckon Slytherins monster can duel?' said Ron, but he, too, read the sign with interest. 'Could be useful,' he said to Elizabeth as they went into dinner. 'Shall we go?'

Elizabeth and the others were all for it, so at eight o'clock that evening they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

'I wonder who'll be teaching us?' said Hermione as they edged into the chattering crowd.' I heard that Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young, maybe it'll be him.'

Charlotte smiled and said, 'He was the British national champion 3 years running and won the European grand titles twice in his career, apparently he was so fast, almost no one could hit him.'

'As long as it's not,' Elizabeth began, but he ended on a groan: Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called 'Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works.'

'Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape,' said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. 'He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!'

'I've never seen him look that mean,' whispered Fitzwilliam.

Snape's upper lip was curling, Elizabeth smiled as she realised Lockhart probably wouldn't even know what hit him. Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

'As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position,' Lockhart told the silent crowd.' On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course.'

'I'm not so sure, Snape's been spoiling for this since the Quidditch game,' Elizabeth murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.

'One, two, three.' Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried, 'Expelliarmus!' There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered, while Hermione was dancing on tiptoes.' Do you think he's all right?' she squealed through her fingers.

'Who cares?' said Elizabeth and Charlotte as the boys all nodded in agreement. Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his fee, his hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it!' he said, tottering back onto the platform.' That was a Disarming Charm, as you see, I've lost my wand, ah, thank you, Miss Brown, yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy, however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…'

Snape was looking like he wasn't satisfied Lockhart seemed to have noticed, because he said, 'Enough demonstrating! I am going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me.'

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners and Snape reached Elizabeth and the others and said to her.

'You should try and practice with somebody unfamiliar, learn to react to the unexpected Elizabeth.' Snape looked around and faced a crowd of Slytherins standing nearby.

'Miss Parkinson, come over here, let's see how you go against Elizabeth, and you, Miss's Granger, you can partner Miss Greengrass and Miss Davis.'

Pansy came over, her usual look of smug superiority in place and behind her came a pair of girls that Elizabeth did not personally know but knew by reputation.

'Face your partners!' called Lockhart, back on the platform.' and bow!'

Elizabeth and Pansy barely moved their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.

'Wands at the ready!' shouted Lockhart.' When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents, only to disarm them, we don't want any accidents, one… two… three!'

Elizabeth opened her mouth and began to wave her wand but Pansy had already started on 'two': Her spell hit Elizabeth and made her stagger backwards a few paces her eyes watering and a pain in her head that took a few seconds to clear. '_Fine, if that's how she wants to fight.' _ Wasting no more time, Elizabeth pointed her wand straight at Pansy and said, '_Locomotor mortis_.'

A jet of red light struck Pansy in the leg and she tripped up, her legs bound together

'I said disarm only!' Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd, and Elizabeth wanting to end the fight quickly aimed and fired, '_Expelliarmus_.' hitting Pansy squarely sending her back about ten feet and sending her wand flying.

'Stop! Stop!' screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge. 'Finite Incantatem!' he shouted, and Pansy's legs sprung apart and she got up glaring at Elizabeth, Draco passing her wand to her. A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene, as various people were examining injuries caused by the volley of magic. Elizabeth looked around at her friends and saw that they were all ok; however, Seamus Finnegan who was partnering Ron looked somewhat worse for wear with singed robes and two missing eyebrows.

'I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells,' said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall.'

He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. 'Let's have a volunteer pair, Potter and Parkinson, how about you?'

'A good suggestion Professor Lockhart' said Snape, gliding over and looking at the pair of them, 'two of Hogwarts leading lights, up you come the pair of you.'

Elizabeth stepped up as the crowd drew away listened as Lockhart said. 'Now, Elizabeth,' when Pansy points her wand at you, you do this.'

He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, 'Whoops, my wand is a little overexcited.'

Elizabeth glared at him and watched as Draco Malfoy walked over to Pansy bent down, and whispered something in her ear, the pair of them smirked. Elizabeth looked defiantly at Pansy as she said.

'Scared Potter, I'd hate to mar your looks, oh, wait, you haven't got any.' muttered Pansy, so that Lockhart couldn't hear her.

'You wish, pug face.' said Elizabeth out of the corner of her mouth as Pansy glared at her. Lockhart started the count.

'Three, two, one, go!' he shouted, Pansy raised her wand quickly and bellowed, _'Serpensortia!'_

The end of her wand exploded and Elizabeth watched, shocked, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself hissing, ready to strike, it's eyes fixed on Elizabeth. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor. Elizabeth stood still, not daring to move and watched as Lockhart again made a stupid move and said, 'Don't worry Potter; I'll get rid of that snake.'

He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang, the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Elizabeth moved forward before she knew what she was doing and stood facing the snake, her hands on her hips, glaring at the serpent and said, 'Leave him alone this instant!'

The snake turned to face her and replied. '_By your commmannd my ladyyyy.'_

The snake coiled and lay perfectly still and Elizabeth sighed in relief and looked at Justin, smiling expecting to see Justin looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful, however luck was not on Elizabeth's side that night as he shouted.

"'What on earth do you think you're playing at Potter?' he shouted, and before Elizabeth could say anything in response, Justin had turned and stormed out of the hall. Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke, he looked shocked and slightly fearful as his eyes met hers. Elizabeth heard muttering beginning around her and Ron and Fitzwilliam steered her out of the hall and away from the crowd. Elizabeth had often felt like she was stuck in a spotlight because of her fame but she had never felt anything like she did in that moment as the fear and anger being directed at her were almost tangible in the air as she was steered up the stairs towards the common room. Elizabeth didn't have a clue why everyone was so upset, and nobody said a word until they had dragged her all the way up to the empty Gryffindor common room.

Then Ron pushed Elizabeth into an armchair and said, 'you're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?'

'Everybody hates Parselmouths and I've only ever done it once before, nobody would understand if I'd said anything, I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to, that was before I knew I was a witch.' Elizabeth replied.

'A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?' Ron repeated faintly.

'Does it really matter so much? Justin's okay isn't he?' Elizabeth asked.

'We know you weren't doing anything bad Lizzie, but now everyone will think you're related to Salazar Slytherin, his family were the only ones who could ever speak the language,' said Charlotte.

'I can't be," said Elizabeth, 'If I was surely the hat would have put me in Slytherin.'

'He lived about a thousand years ago Lizzie; for all we know, you could be.' replied Hermione.

'Don't worry Lizzie, people will get over it eventually, once they remember how much you hate blood the supremacists,' said Jane and Elizabeth smiled weakly at her.

Elizabeth slept poorly that night as she worried about what people would say and wether they would believe her. It was good that she had her friends on her side, but that wasn't the only thing. Could she really be descended from a wizard widely believed to be so evil that he made Voldemort look like a playground bully? She knew very little about her family beyond the little she had been told and read in books. She had resolved to go and find Justin to explain herself however, it had begun to snow and the last Herbology lesson of the term was cancelled, as Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves on the Mandrakes, in order to save them from the weather. Elizabeth fretted about the situation next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room while Jane and Charlotte had been trying to calm her down

'For heaven's sake, Lizzie said Hermione, go and find him if you're this worried.'

Therefore, Elizabeth got up and left through the portrait hole, wondering where Justin might be. The castle was darker than it usually was in daytime because of the thick, swirling gray snow at every window and seemed to feel darker than ever. Shivering from the cold, Elizabeth walked past classrooms where lessons were taking place, catching snatches of what was happening within. Professor McGonagall was shouting at someone who, by the sound of it, had turned his friend into a badger. Elizabeth urge walked on by, thinking that Justin might be using his free time to catch up on some work, and deciding to check the library first. A group of the Hufflepuffs who should have been in Herbology were sitting at the back of the library, but they didn't seem to be working. Between the long lines of high bookshelves, Elizabeth could see that their heads were close together in conversation. She couldn't see whether Justin was among them and so decided to move closer, walking toward them when she began to hear what they were saying.

'So anyway,' a stout boy was saying, 'I told Justin to hide up in our dormitory. I mean to say, if Potter's marked him down as her next victim, it's best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Of course, Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since Potter heard he was Muggle-born. Justin was stupid enough to say he'd been down for Eton. That's not the kind of thing you bandy about with Slytherins heir on the loose, is it?'

'You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?' said a girl with blonde pigtails anxiously.

'Hannah,' said the stout boy solemnly, 'she's a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue.'

There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Ernie went on, 'Remember what was written on the wall? Enemies of the Heir, Beware, and Potter had some sort of run-in with Filch, next thing we know, Filch's cat's attacked. That first year, Creevey, was annoying Potter at the Quidditch match, taking pictures of her while she was lying in the mud. Next thing we know, Creevey's been attacked.'

'She's always seems so nice, though,' said Hannah uncertainly, she's helped us out heaps, look what she did to Lockhart, he's almost bearable now and, well, she's the one who made You-Know-Who disappear She can't be all bad, can she?'

Ernie lowered his voice mysteriously, the Hufflepuffs bent closer, and Elizabeth edged nearer so that she could catch Ernie's words. 'No one knows how she survived that attack by You-Know-Who. I mean to say, she was only a baby when it happened. She should have been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful Dark wizard could have survived a curse like that.'

He dropped his voice until it was barely more than a whisper, and said, 'That's probably why You- Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place. Didn't want a Dark Lady competing with him. I wonder what other powers Potter's been hiding? Everyone know's she's powerful.'

Elizabeth couldn't believe her ears, clearing her throat loudly; she stepped out and walked up to the group of Hufflepuffs. If she hadn't been feeling so angry, she would have found the sight that greeted him funny; every single one of them looked frightened out of their wits.

'Hello,' said Elizabeth, 'I'm looking for Justin Finch-Fletchley.'

'What do you want with him?' said Ernie in a quavering voice.

'I wanted to explain to him what really happened with that snake at the Dueling Club,' said Elizabeth.

Ernie bit his white lips and then, taking a deep breath, said, 'We were all there. We saw what happened.'

'Oh, then you noticed that after I spoke to it, the snake stopped attacking?' said Elizabeth.

'All I saw,' said Ernie stubbornly, though he was trembling as he spoke, 'was you speaking Parseltongue and chasing the snake toward Justin.'

'I didn't chase it at him!' Elizabeth said, feeling angry 'It didn't even touch him!'

'It was a very near miss,' said Ernie, 'and in case you're getting ideas,' he added hastily, 'I might tell you that you can trace my family back through nine generations of witches and warlocks and my blood's as pure as anyone's, so .'

'-I don't care what sort of blood you've got!' said Elizabeth fiercely, her hair shifting to tomato red. I have no reason to want to attack Muggle-borns. Don't you know that two of my best friends are muggle born?'

"I've heard you hate those Muggles you live with,' said Ernie swiftly."

It's not possible to live with the Dursleys and not hate them,' said Elizabeth. 'Muggles like that are the reason they introduced the statute of secrecy.'

Elizabeth turned on her heel and stormed out of the library, earning herself a reproving glare from Madam Pince, who was polishing the gilded cover of a large spellbook. Elizabeth walked up the corridor, barely noticing where she was going, she was in such a fury she was glowing with reddish light. The result was that she walked into something very large and solid, which knocked her onto the floor.

'Oh, hello, Hagrid,' Elizabeth said," looking up at the big bear like form of the gamekeeper. Hagrid's face was entirely hidden by a woolly, snow-covered balaclava, but it couldn't possibly be anyone else, as he filled most of the corridor in his moleskin overcoat. A dead rooster was hanging from one of his massive, gloved hands.

'All righ', Lizzie?' he said, pulling up the balaclava so he could speak.' Why aren't yeh in class?'

'Cancelled because of the weather,' said Elizabeth, getting to her feet.' What're you doing in here?'

Hagrid held up the limp rooster. 'Second one killed this term,' he explained. 'It's either foxes or a Blood-Suckin Bugbear, an' I need the Headmaster's permission ter put a charm around the hen coop.'

He peered more closely at Elizabeth from under his thick, snowflecked eyebrows.

'Yeh sure yeh're all righ'? Yeh hairs gone red and yeh glowing again Lizzie, and thas bad news.'

As she became conscious of the glow it disappeared, Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to repeat what Ernie and the rest of the Hufflepuffs had been saying about her and just said.

'It's stupid; the Hufflepuffs think I'm out to kill the muggleborns' she said.' I'd better get going, Hagrid, it's Transfiguration next and I've got to pick up my books.'

'Don't worry Lizzie, it'll pass, and they'll come out looking like fools.'

Elizabeth smiled weakly at him and walked off, her head still ringing with the voices of the Hufflepuffs,

'Justin's been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip

He was Muggle-born…'

Elizabeth stamped up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was particularly dark; the torches had been extinguished by a strong, icy draft that was blowing through a loose windowpane, she was halfway down the passage when she tripped headlong over something lying on the floor.

She looked at what she'd fallen over and felt as though her stomach had turned to ice.

Justin Finch-Fletchley was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, a look of shock frozen on his face, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, and next to him was someone else. It was Nearly Headless Nick, no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smoky, floating immobile and horizontal, six inches off the floor. His head was half off and his face wore an expression of shock identical to Justin's.

Elizabeth got to her feet, looking at the bodies, conflicted between taking to her heels before she was found and framed for the crime, or going for help. The only sounds nearby were the muffled voices of teachers from the classes on either side. However before she could choose what to do the choice was taken from her when Peeves the poltergeist flew out from a wall nearby, saw her and started talking.

'Why, it's potty wee Potter!' cackled Peeves, as he bounced past her.' up to? Why's Potter lurking?'

Peeves stopped, halfway through a midair somersault. Upside down, he spotted Justin and Nearly Headless Nick. He flipped the right way up, filled his lungs and, before Elizabeth could stop him, he screamed. 'ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!'

It was utter pandemonium, door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out and swarmed the scene of the attack. For several long minutes, there was a scene of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and people kept standing in Nearly Headless Nick. Elizabeth found herself pinned against the wall as the teachers did what they could to restore order. Professor McGonagall came running, followed by her own class, one of whom still had black-and-white-striped hair. She used her wand to set off a loud bang, which restored silence, and ordered everyone back into their classes. No sooner had the scene cleared somewhat than Ernie the Hufflepuff arrived, panting, on the scene.

'Caught in the act Potter! You'll get the kiss for this!' Ernie yelled, his face stark white, pointing his finger dramatically at Elizabeth.

'That will do, Macmillan!' said Professor McGonagall sharply, and 10 points from Hufflepuff for contempt.'

Peeves was bobbing overhead, now grinning wickedly, surveying the scene; Peeves always loved chaos. As the teachers bent over Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, examining them, Peeves broke into song:

'Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done, you're killing off' students, you think it's good fun.'

'That's enough Peeves!' barked Professor McGonagall, and Peeves zoomed away backward, with his tongue out at Elizabeth. Justin was carried up to the hospital wing by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department, but nobody seemed to know what to do for Nearly Headless Nick. In the end, Professor McGonagall conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Ernie with instructions to waft Nearly Headless Nick up the stairs. This Ernie did, fanning Nick along like a silent black hovercraft, this left Elizabeth and Professor McGonagall alone together.

'This way, Potter,' she said.

'Professor,' said Elizabeth at once, 'I swear I didn't do it.'

'This is out of my hands, Potter,' said Professor McGonagall curtly.

They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before a large and extremely ugly stone gargoyle.

'Sherbet Lemon!' She said. This was evidently a password, because the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Elizabeth couldn't fail to be amazed. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As she and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, Elizabeth heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Elizabeth saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. Elizabeth guessed where she was going; this was obviously the headmaster's office.


	12. Chapter 12

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: Sorry about the wait, hope everyone likes the chapter. Couldn't resist the Wizard of Oz prank, they aired it on TV one night while I was writing this._

Chapter 12: The Polyjuice Potion

Elizabeth and Professor McGonagall stepped off the stone staircase at the top, and the elder witch rapped on the door. It opened silently; they both entered, Professor McGonagall told Elizabeth to wait, and left her there, alone, waiting for whatever was going to happen. Elizabeth looked around her surroundings, one thing was certain to her, of all the teachers' offices she had visited so far in her time at Hogwarts Dumbledore's was by far the most interesting and welcoming she'd seen. If Elizabeth hadn't been worried that she was about to be thrown out of school, she would have been very pleased to have a chance to look around it. It was circular with a lot of odd instruments that kept making funny noises, snoozing portraits, a huge desk and on a shelf on the wall, the sorting hat.

Elizabeth hesitated and cast a wary eye around the sleeping witches and wizards on the walls. Surely, it couldn't hurt if she took the hat down and tried it on again one more time. Just to see… just to make sure it had put her in the right place. Elizabeth took the hat down off its shelf and lowered it slowly onto her head. It was still too big and drooped over her eyes just like last time.

Elizabeth stared at the black inside of the hat, waiting. Then a small voice began to speak in her ear, 'Bee in your bonnet, Elizabeth Potter?"

'_Excuse me_,_ I don't want to cause trouble but I want to know…'_

'You've been wondering whether I put you in the right House,' said the hat smartly. _'Yes… you were particularly difficult to place, one of the hardest challenges I've faced in years_, _but I stand by what I said before._ _You would_ _have done well in Slytherin._'

Elizabeth made a face, felt her mood slump, grabbed the point of the hat, and pulled it off. It hung limply in her hand, grubby and faded. Elizabeth pushed it back onto its shelf, feeling sickened that it thought she belonged in Slytherin. You're wrong, I wouldn't be in that house if you paid me' she said aloud to the still and silent hat. Elizabeth backed away, watching it. Then a strange, gagging noise behind her made her turn around. Standing on a golden perch behind the door was a decrepit-looking bird that resembled a half-plucked turkey, Elizabeth stared at it, the bird looked straight at her, and in that moment, it spoke to her.

'_Be not alarmed young maiden of the fire, I merely have come to the end of my cycle, all creatures born of the allfire are born and die in cycles, and soon I shall be reborn.'_

Elizabeth realized that the bird was a phoenix and watched as it suddenly burst into flames. She watched, as the bird became a fireball and with a shriek turned to ash and seconds later the new phoenix emerged from the ashes of the old. The office door opened and Dumbledore came in, looking very grim. In the shock of the phoenix catching fire and being reborn, Elizabeth had forgotten what she was there for, but it all came back to her as Dumbledore settled himself in the high chair behind the desk and fixed Elizabeth with his penetrating, light-blue stare. Before Dumbledore could speak another word, however, the door of the office flew open with an almighty bang and Hagrid burst in, a wild look in his eyes, his balaclava perched on top of his shaggy black head and the dead rooster still swinging from his hand.

'It wasn' Lizzie, Professor Dumbledore!' said Hagrid urgently. I was talkin' ter her _seconds_ before that kid was found, she never had time, sir.'

Dumbledore tried to say something, but Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere. 'It can't've bin her; I'll swear it in front o' the Ministry o' Magic if I have to.'

'Hagrid, I …'

'Yeh've got the wrong girl, I _know_ Lizzie never done it.'

'_Hagrid!_' said Dumbledore loudly.

'I do not think that Elizabeth attacked those people.'

'Oh,' said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. 'Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster.'

He stomped out of the office looking embarrassed.

'You actually believe me, Professor?' Elizabeth said hopefully as Dumbledore brushed rooster feathers off his desk.

'Yes, Elizabeth, I do,' said Dumbledore," though his face was grim again. 'But I still want to talk to you.'

And, just like that, Elizabeth felt worried again. Elizabeth waited nervously while Dumbledore considered her, the tips of his long fingers together.

'I must ask you, Elizabeth, whether there is anything you'd like to tell me,' he said gently. 'Anything at all.'

Elizabeth didn't know what to say, she thought of Malfoy and Pansy supporting the whole thing, her suspicions of the elder Malfoy and Parkinson. She thought of Dobby and his plans to try to have her injured and sent back, she remembered all the prejudice against those who speak Parseltongue and of the voices she had heard and the visions of the sinister figure, and finally she yielded to sense and took a deep breath.

'Well there is one or two things sir…..'

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had been to that point mere nervousness into real panic as people were wondering what could hurt someone who was dead already. A mass of students fled the castle, even some who were originally planning on staying. Crabbe and Goyle and Pansy's gang of Slytherin toadies, who always did whatever they said had signed up to stay over the holidays, too. Elizabeth was getting sick of people treating her as if she was about to attack them, and was glad the holidays were coming as that at least would give her some respite. Fred and George, however, found it all very funny as they went out of their way to march ahead of Elizabeth down the corridors, playing the most ridiculous jokes, and one morning one of them somehow turned her skin green and the other tossed a bucket of water at her which made the whole muggleborn student body laugh their heads off as they understood the joke best of all. Percy told them off and Elizabeth marked them down for payback later though she secretly did find the wicked witch of the west prank mildly funny. Elizabeth didn't mind most of that they were doing as at least it made her feel better that Fred and George thought the idea of her being Slytherin's heir was quite ludicrous. However, their antics seemed to be aggravating Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who looked increasingly sour each time they saw them at it.

'It's because he's _bursting _to say it's really them,' said Ron knowingly.' You know how they hate anyone beating them at anything, and you're getting all the credit for there dirty work.'

'Don't worry Lizzie, we'll show them soon enough,' smiled Charlotte.

'Real soon' said Hermione in a satisfied tone.' The Polyjuice Potion is nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of them any day now.'

'I've even prepared a little gift for then, with the help of the twins and Lee,' said Fitzwilliam, 'shame I won't see the results.'

At last, the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Elizabeth found it peaceful, rather than gloomy, and enjoyed the fact that she, Hermione, Jane, Charlotte and the Weasley's had the run of Gryffindor Tower. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behaviour, didn't spend much time in the Gryffindor common room. He had already told them pompously that _he_ was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as a prefect to support the teachers during this troubled time, Christmas morning dawned, a perfect European white Christmas and Hermione excitedly shook Elizabeth, Jane and Charlotte awake wishing them all merry Christmas and passing gifts around before she told them in whispered tones that the potion was ready and urging them to carry out the plan that night. Hedwig swooped into the room, carrying a very small package in her beak.

Elizabeth greeted her pet happily, as she landed on the bed. 'Are you speaking to me again?'

She nibbled her ear in an affectionate sort of way, which was a far better present than the one that she had brought her, which turned out to be from the Dursleys. They had sent Elizabeth a toothpick and a note telling her to find out whether she would be able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer holidays, too. The rest of Elizabeth's Christmas presents were far more satisfactory and these included Hagrid sending her a large tin of treacle fudge, which Elizabeth decided to soften by the fire before eating; Ron had given her a book called _Flying with the Cannons_, a book of interesting facts about his favourite Quidditch team, Hermione had bought her a luxurious eagle-feather quill and Jane gave her a new silver inkpot to match. Charles had given her a book on the history of wizards and witches who had used the Parseltongue ability while Fitzwilliam had given her a gift certificate for Madam Malkin's robe shop.

Elizabeth opened the last present to find a new, hand-knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a large plum cake. She read her card feeling quite guilty, thinking about Mr. Weasley's car and the planned bout of rule-breaking she and Ron were planning next, despite telling Dumbledore many of her suspicions, she didn't believe him when he said that Pansy and Draco were most likely innocent and was determined to prove them guilty.

No one, not even someone dreading taking Polyjuice Potion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts. The Great Hall looked magnificent. Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling. Dumbledore led them in a few of his favourite carols, Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed. Percy hadn't noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read 'Pinhead,' kept asking them all what they were sniggering at, until Maria spoiled the joke somewhat and told him, and he went red in the face and ears as he scolded his brothers, only to be told to lighten up by a rather tipsy Professor McGonagall.

When Elizabeth finished her dinner, she, Charlotte, Jane and Hermione ushered Ron out of the hall to finalize their plans for the evening.

'We still need a bit of the person you're changing into' said Hermione matter-of-. 'And obviously, it'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's or Goyle's; they're Malfoys best friends, he'll tell them anything. We also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy and Parkinson.'

'I've got it all worked out,' she went on smoothly, ignoring Ron's stupefied face. She held up two plump chocolate cakes. 'I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet.'

Charlotte leaned closer and whispered, 'I've already taken care of a few of Pansy's friends, they're sleeping off a somnus charm and an inebriation charm and should wake up tomorrow morning with a huge headache in that abandoned classroom on the 2nd floor and think they pinched too much eggnog.'

Elizabeth smiled at her and said, 'Well let's get on with this.'

Jane and Hermione led the way upstairs and Elizabeth and Charlotte followed along, Ron joining them a few minutes later. They could hardly see for the thick black smoke in the place as Hermione was stirring the cauldron.

'Did you take care of Crabbe and Goyle?' Hermione asked breathlessly.

Ron smirked and said, 'Honestly, how thick could you get? They're both locked in the closet and I nicked some of Crabbe's hair.'

'Good. I sneaked these spare robes out of the laundry,' Hermione said, holding up a small sack. 'You'll bigger ones with Slytherin trim once you're Crabbe.'

Jane handed girls robes around to Elizabeth, Hermione and Charlotte and said, 'We're taking the place of Anna Avery, Verity Gibbon , Nigella Umbridge and Florence Rookwood, none of them are overly bright and they're all Pansy's toadies, so we'll just have to make sure we don't act too pro Muggleborn and agree with what Pansy says.'

Elizabeth added in, 'Fitzwilliam gave me his present for the Slytherins, it's a delayed reaction canister that'll release a harmless gas that'll make a dung bomb smell like designer perfume by comparison, it's got a 4 hour time delay once activated so we should be well clear when it goes off.'

Elizabeth showed the canister which was about the size of a can of deodorant and Ron sniggered and said, 'Knowing the twins, there's a twist to it.'

Elizabeth nodded as Hermione looked at the canister in dismay and Charlotte giggled. The four of them stared into the cauldron. Close up, the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly.

'I'm sure I've done everything right,' said Hermione, nervously rereading the splotched page of _Moste Potente Potions.' It_ looks like the book says it should… once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves.'

'Now what?' Ron whispered. 'We separate it into five glasses and add the hairs.' replied Jane.

Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses. Then, her hand trembling, she shook Verity Gibbon's hair out of its bottle into the first glass.

The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly, a second later, it had turned a murky sort of brown.

'Urgh, essence of Gibbon,' said Ron, eyeing it with loathing, 'bet it tastes disgusting.'

'Add yours, then,' said Hermione.

Elizabeth dropped Anna's hair into her glass and watched Ron, Jane and Charlotte add hair into their. All the glasses hissed and frothed, turning various disgusting shades. The group separated to take the potion and Pinching her nose, Elizabeth drank the potion down in two large gulps. It tasted like overcooked cabbage. '_Why's this stuff so damn chewy?'_

Immediately, her insides started writhing as though she'd just swallowed live snakes and she doubled up, feeling like she was about to be sick and then a burning sensation spread rapidly from her stomach to the very ends of her fingers and toes. Next, bringing her gasping to all fours, came a horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over her body bubbled like hot wax and before her eyes, her body began to change, her hair shortened and turned darker, she lost a few inches in height and felt her frame balloon as she gained weight, her robes feeling like they were about to rip as they no longer fitted. As suddenly as it had started, everything stopped, Elizabeth lay face down on the stone-cold floor, listening to Myrtle gurgling morosely in the end toilet. With difficulty, she took off her ill-fitting uniform and put on the disguise Jane had acquired.

'Everyone okay?' she spoke in Anna's guttural tones.

'Yeah,' came the deep grunt of Crabbe to her right.

'No problem here,' came Verity's sneering tone.

'I'm ok,' added Florence's quiet tone.

'Let's get this over with,' came the sickeningly sweet tone of Nigella.

Elizabeth unlocked her door and stepped in front of the cracked mirror, Anna stared back at her out of dull, deep brown eyes. Elizabeth moved her hand, so Anna.

The others all came out and everyone duly admired Hermione's handiwork.

'We'd better get going,' said Elizabeth, we still have to find out where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow…'

The others all agreed and started heading downstairs, all they needed now was a Slytherin that they could follow to the common room, but there was nobody around.

'Any ideas?' muttered Charlotte.

'The Slytherins always come up to breakfast from over there,' said Ron, nodding at the entrance to the dungeons and so they went in that direction, they had a close shave when they found a Ravenclaw prefect and asked her the way, and they had to back off before she got suspicious. The labyrinthine passages were deserted and they walked deeper and deeper under the school, constantly checking their watches to see how much time they had left. After a quarter of an hour, just when they were getting desperate, they heard a sudden movement ahead.

'Ha!' said Ron excitedly. 'There's one of the snakes now!'

The figure was emerging from a side room. As they hurried nearer, however, their hearts sank, it wasn't a Slytherin, it was Percy."

'What're you doing down here?' said Ron in surprise.

Percy looked affronted."

"'That,' he said stiffly, 'is none of your business.'

'It's Crabbe, isn't it?'

'Wh….. Oh, yeah,' said Ron.

'Well, get off to your dormitories,' said Percy sternly. 'It's not safe to go wandering around dark corridors these days.'

'_You_ are,' Ron pointed out.

'I,' said Percy, drawing himself up, 'am a prefect. Nothing's about to attack _me_.'

A voice suddenly echoed behind the group. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were strolling toward them, and for the first time in her life, Elizabeth was pleased to see them.

'There you are,' he drawled, looking at them.' where have you been? And where's Goyle I've been looking for you two; I want to show you something really funny.'

Pansy came up to them and stared, 'well, she said.'

Elizabeth spoke to her, 'we had to take Goyle to the hospital wing, he stole a bunch of eggnog and drank the lot, the lightweight was as sick as a dog.'

Pansy giggled, 'if Goyle was any thicker, you could use him as a statue.'

Malfoy laughed as well and shook his head before he turned to Percy.

'What're you doing down here, Weasley?' he sneered.

Percy looked outraged.

'You want to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!' he said. 'I don't like your attitude!'

Malfoy sneered and motioned for Elizabeth and the others to follow him and Pansy. The group hurried after Malfoy, who said as they turned into the next passage, 'That Peter Weasley '

'Percy,' Ron corrected him automatically.

'Whatever,' said Malfoy. 'I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed.'

'Not that he ever will.' added Pansy with a sneer.

He gave a short, derisive laugh. Elizabeth and Charlotte exchanged excited looks.

Malfoy paused by a stretch of bare, damp stone wall.

'What's the new password again?' he said to Elizabeth.

'Er —' said Elizabeth.

'Oh, yeah, _pure-blood_!' said Malfoy.

A stone door concealed in the wall slid open. Malfoy marched through it, leading them all inside. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.

'Wait here,' said Malfoy the group at large, motioning them to a couple of couches set back from the fire.' I'll go and get it my father's just sent it to me.' '_What's he got?' _thought Elizabeth, but smiling mischievously at the opportunity, she cast a surreptitious look around and making sure nobody was looking, took the canister from her pocket, tapped the top with her finger in the pattern Fitzwilliam had said and dropped it under the couch, just as Malfoy came back in, holding what looked like a newspaper clipping. He thrust it under Ron's nose.

'That'll give you a laugh,' he said.

Elizabeth saw Ron's eyes widen in shock.

He read the clipping quickly, gave a very forced laugh, and handed it to Elizabeth.

It had been clipped out of the _Daily Prophet_, and it said:

_INQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC_

_Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car. Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley's resignation. 'Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute,' Mr. Malfoy told our reporter. He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately. Mr. Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them._

'Well?' said Pansy impatiently as Elizabeth handed the clipping to Jane, 'don't you think it's funny?'

'Serves the fool right,' she said in response.

'Arthur Weasley loves Muggles so much he should snap his wand in half and go and join them,' said Malfoy scornfully.

'Molly Weasley's the biggest traitor of the lot,' added Pansy.' 'The Prewett's actually were a respectable house not long ago, Old Charles's Prewett even joined the good fight early in the last war, but his brothers and sister had to go and ruin their house.'

Malfoy was beaming at Pansy as she spoke as he added. 'You'd never know the Weasleys were pure-bloods, the way they behave.'

Ron's face was contorted with fury as Pansy and Malfoy spoke.

'What's up with you, Crabbe?' snapped Malfoy.

'Stomach-ache,' Ron grunted.

'Well, go up to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick from me,' said Malfoy, snickering, kick Goyle while you're at it.'

'You know, I'm surprised the _Daily Prophet_ hasn't reported all these attacks yet,' he went on thoughtfully.' I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up.'

'He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon, which it won't. Father's always said old Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place, he loves Muggle-borns while a decent headmaster would never've let slime like that Creevey in.'

Pansy smiled and added, 'We need someone like Phineas Nigellus, muggleborns were charged three times the fees, and attacking them was legal.'

Malfoy smirked, 'that's right dear.'

Malfoy started taking pictures with an imaginary camera and did a cruel but accurate impression of Colin: 'Potter, can I have your picture, Potter? Can I have your autograph? Can I lick your shoes, please, Potter?'

He dropped his hands and looked at the group who all looked sickened

'What's the _matter_ with you lot?'

The group tried to look, sound amused, it seemed to work as Pansy, and Malfoy settled down. 'Saint Potter, the Mudbloods' friend,' said Malfoy slowly.' She is another one with no proper wizard feeling, an impeccable lineage with the exception of her mother and she has to turn into a blood traitor, people actually think s_he's_ Slytherin's heir!'

Pansy sneered as Elizabeth's name was mentioned, 'the people she hangs around with, the Granger twins, that McGonagall bitch. Mudbloods and blood traitors the lot of them, not that it matters, soon their reckoning will come.'

Elizabeth felt her excitement grow with bated breath: Malfoy and Pansy were surely seconds away from telling them they did it, or knew who did, unfortunately for Elizabeth however.

'I _wish_ I knew who it _is_,' said Malfoy petulantly. 'We could help them.'

Ron's jaw dropped so that Crabbe looked even more clueless than usual. Fortunately, Malfoy didn't notice, and Elizabeth, thinking fast, said, 'You must have some idea who's behind it all…'

'You know I haven't, Avery, snapped Malfoy. 'Father won't tell me anything about the last time the Chamber was opened either. Of course, it was fifty years ago, so it was before his time, but he knows all about it, and he says that it was all kept quiet and it'll look suspicious if I know too much about it.'

Pansy sneered at Elizabeth and said, 'That's basically what my dad said too, all he said was that he and Malfoy were going to try and do what was necessary for the school on behalf of the commission. But you ought to know that, your mums on the commission Anna, she's the secretary.'

Elizabeth quickly said, 'She never tells me anything about it, it's really annoying,' with a pouting look. It seemed to satisfy Malfoy and Parkinson as they kept listening.

'But I know one thing, last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood _died_. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them is killed this time… I hope it's the Granger's,' he said with relish," drawled Draco.

Ron was clenching Crabbe's gigantic fists. Feeling that it would be a bit of a giveaway if Ron punched Malfoy, Elizabeth did her best to calm him down as Jane spoke.

'D'you know if the person who opened the Chamber last time was caught?'

'Oh, yeah… whoever it was expelled,' said Malfoy. 'They're probably still in Azkaban.'

He shifted restlessly in his chair and said, 'Father says to keep my head down and let the Heir of Slytherin get on with it. He says the school needs ridding of all the Mudblood filth, but to leave it to our families to take care of.'

'Of course, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment. You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week?'

'Did they find anything?' asked Jane.

'No, thanks to your aunt Delores, Nigella,' said Malfoy. 'Father's got some _very_ valuable Dark Arts stuff and he's got some of Pansy's dads as well for safekeeping. But luckily, we've got our own secret chamber under the drawing-room floor, and with the tip was able to stash all the stuff they were looking for.'

'Ho!' said Ron.

Malfoy looked at him. So did everyone else. Ron blushed, Elizabeth noticed his hair was turning red and his nose was also slowly lengthening, '_Oh crap, we've got to get out quick!' _thought Elizabeth.

Quickly all five of them made their excuses and ran out before they were given away and put some distance between them and the Slytherin common room. Elizabeth felt the potion wear off as her usual appearance reasserted itself they crashed up the steps into the dark entrance hall, which was full of a muffled pounding coming from the closet where Crabbe and Goyle were locked in. Making their way to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, they changed back into their usual uniforms before heading back to the Gryffindor common room where they sat down as Ron began to speak.

'Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time,' Ron said 'I know we still haven't found out who's doing the attacks, but I'm going to write to Dad tomorrow and tell him to check under the Malfoys' drawing room.'

Elizabeth leaned closer and said, "we know Malfoy and Pansy's families are involved but it's not them doing it, but this isn't an isolated plot, they've got something else going on, 'The commission' what's that?"

Jane leaned over and said, 'Well in the muggle world that's the title for a council that the Sicilian Mafia don's hold for meetings to discuss and act on issues between them.'

Ron looked bewildered before Elizabeth explained the concept, and then Charlotte spoke. 'This could be bigger than we think, ex death eaters, top ministry officials. If they're combining resources to push the pure blood agenda this might be worse than just a dark wizard continuing Slytherins crusade.'


	13. Chapter 13

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: I know my poetry sucks, but I had to leave that bit in. When I got to this bit, I couldn't help but realize the similarity between the one ring and Horcruxes wonder if JKR is a Tolkien fan?_

Chapter 13: The Very Secret Diary

Elizabeth and her friends were stumped, their plan to infiltrate the Slytherin common room had gone off without a hitch and they had unearthed evidence that Malfoy and Pansy's families were plotting against muggleborns. Only catch was that they did not have any solid evidence they could present to the teachers without getting in trouble. Elizabeth was still feeling the sense of evil drawing over the castle and often dreamt of a dark haired wizard stalking the halls, though she could never make out his face. She felt satisfied with their prank though, as the day after their escapades the Slytherins all came into the great hall with their skin and hair turned a vivid shade of green. When any of them tried to speak, they croaked like frogs instead, causing the rest of the students to laugh hard. The group spent the rest of the holidays trying to keep an eye on Malfoy and Parkinson as much as they could, though nothing came from the surveillance. When the new term started Elizabeth filled in the rest of her friends on the developments one night at dinner and they left together to go back to the common room to work on homework. Elizabeth and the others were making their way through the corridors when suddenly she heard an angry outburst from above.

'Isn't that Filch?' Charles muttered as they hurried up the stairs and paused, out of sight, listening hard.

'You don't think someone else's been attacked?' said Ron tensely.

Elizabeth held her hands and gestured for quiet as the bitter old man continued his rant.

'_Even more work for me! Mopping all night, like I haven't got enough to do! No, this is the final straw; I'm going to Dumbledore.'_

His footsteps receded along the out-of-sight corridor and they heard a distant door slam. They poked their heads around the corner. Filch had clearly been manning his usual lookout post: They were once again on the spot where Mrs. Norris had been attacked. They saw at a glance what Filch had been shouting about. A great flood of water stretched over half the corridor and it looked as though it was still seeping from under the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Now that Filch had stopped shouting, they could hear Myrtle's wails echoing off the bathroom walls.

'Something's up, nobody goes in here if they can help it,' said Jane.

'Let's go and see,' said Elizabeth as they gingerly pushed open the door and walked into the room listening to the waling of the resident ghost, magnified somewhat. She seemed to be hiding down her usual toilet and the room was dark in the bathroom because the candles had been extinguished in the great rush of water that had left both walls and floor soaking wet.

'Hello, Myrtle?' said Elizabeth.

'Who's that?' glugged Myrtle miserably. 'Come to throw something else at me?'

Elizabeth waded across to her stall and said, 'Why would I throw something at you?'

'Don't ask me,' Myrtle shouted, emerging with a wave of yet more water, which splashed onto the already sopping floor. 'Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me…'

Fitzwilliam made a bad mistake as he spoke up and said.

'But it can't hurt you if someone throws something at you wouldn't it?' he said, reasonably. 'I mean, it'd just go right through you.'

Myrtle puffed herself up and flew down until she was less than an inch from Fitzwilliam's face 'Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because _she_ can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach!" She punched Fitzwilliam in the stomach, who flinched from the cold, 'fifty points if it goes through her head!' She punched him again causing the same reaction.

'Well, ha, ha, ha! What a lovely game, I _don't_ think!'

'Who threw it at you, anyway Myrtle?' asked Charlotte.

'_I_ don't know… I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right through the top of my head,' said Myrtle, glaring at them.' It's over there, it got washed out…'

Elizabeth and the others looked over where Myrtle was pointing and spotted the perfectly ordinary looking book lying there. However, as she drew closer to it and stretched out her hand, she could sense a power pouring off the book in waves. A strange sense as though she was walking over her own grave, which made her hesitate.

'_What is this thing? It doesn't seem natural.'_

'What's wrong Lizzie?" asked Hermione.

'The book, there's a power coming off it, I've never sensed anything like it, reminds me a bit of the one ring from the lord of the rings.'

Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam all looked baffled but Jane and Charlotte seemed to understand and quickly filled the others in. Fitzwilliam looked wary and said, 'What'll we do with it? We can't just leave it here, someone might find it.'

Ron looked at the book and said, 'Dad's told me about a few books they've been seized at the ministry, so I'd say we should take it and then find a way to destroy it.'

Charlotte nodded and said, 'I agree, but why wait.'

Therefore, Charlotte drew her wand, pointed it at the book and said, '_Incendio_.'

A jet of fire flew from her wand and struck the book and after a few seconds dissipated, leaving it untouched, though Elizabeth thought she could sense at the edge of hearing, a whispering voice. Hermione was shocked and said, 'Unbelievable, that should have turned it to ash, and look. It's not even charred, if water and fire cannot touch it…..'

Charles looked grave and said, 'Let's get it out of here for a start, maybe the library might have some information we can use.'

So he reached down, took the book, and opened it, the faded year on the cover told him it was fifty years old. He opened it and gazed at the first page, On the paper there was some faint writing where he could just make out the name 'T M. Riddle' in smudged ink.

'Hang on,' said Ron, who had approached cautiously and was looking over Charles's shoulder.' I know that name… T. M. Riddle got an award for special services to the school fifty years ago.'

'How on earth d'you know that?' said Elizabeth in amazement.

'Because Filch made me polish his shield about fifty times in detention,' said Ron resentfully. 'That was the one I burped slugs all over. If you'd wiped slime off a name for an hour, you'd remember it, too.'

Charles and Fitzwilliam examined the book and then put it away before they left. The group sent the next few days looking for a way to destroy the diary but to their astonishment, nothing they tried worked at all, acidic potions, explosions and advanced fire charms. Elizabeth was being haunted by visions of the attacks, of dark shapes creeping up on Colin, Justin and Mr's Norris and others she could not identify. The group also began to search for information about T.M Riddle and soon found his name on the list of head boys and prefects, but found no details on how he won his award. All of them barring Elizabeth had spent some time examining the diary, but found nothing and so Elizabeth kept it shut in her trunk.

The sun had now begun to shine weakly on Hogwarts again as February began. Inside the castle, the mood had grown more hopeful. There had been no more attacks since those on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the Mandrakes were becoming moody and secretive, meaning that they were fast leaving childhood. The student body were still wary of Elizabeth but had stopped a lot of their hostility towards her.

'The moment their acne clears up, they'll be ready for repotting again,' Elizabeth heard Professor Sprout telling Filch kindly one afternoon.' And after that, it won't be long until we're cutting them up and stewing them. You'll have Mrs. Norris back in no time.'

'_Perhaps the Heir of Slytherin had lost their nerve? Or the commission has abandoned their scheme, maybe the diary has something to do with it and since I've got it…"_ thought Elizabeth. "_It must be getting riskier and riskier to open the Chamber of Secrets, with the school so alert and suspicious. Perhaps the monster, whatever it was, was even now settling itself down to hibernate for another fifty years…_'

Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff was still hostile to Elizabeth and unlike many of the others was still suspicious of her. Peeves wasn't helping matter much with his crazy song and dance routines, which at least gave everyone something to laugh at. Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to think he himself had made the attacks stop and Elizabeth overheard him telling Professor McGonagall so while the Gryffindors were lining up for Transfiguration.

'I don't think there'll be any more trouble, Minerva,' he said, tapping his nose knowingly and winking. 'I think the Chamber has been locked for good this time. The culprit must have known it was only a matter of time before I caught him. Rather sensible to stop now, before I came down hard on him. You know, what the school needs now is a morale-booster. Wash away the memories of last term! I won't say any more just now, but I think I know just the thing…'

Elizabeth felt apprehensive about this, as she knew that the bumbling clown could do a lot of damage.

Elizabeth hadn't had much sleep because of a late-running Quidditch practice the night before, and he hurried down to the Great Hall, slightly late she thought, for a moment, that she'd walked through the wrong doors. The walls were all covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling.

'_Oh, you have got to be joking….'_

Elizabeth went over to the Gryffindor table, where Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam were sitting looking sickened, and Hermione and Jane seemed to have been overcome with giggles while Charlotte looked wary.

'What's going on?' Elizabeth asked them, sitting down and wiping confetti off her plate as she began to dish herself up some food.

Ron pointed to the teachers' table, apparently too disgusted to speak. Lockhart, wearing lurid pink robes to match the decorations, was waving for silence. The teachers on either side of him were looking stony-faced. From where he sat, Elizabeth could see a muscle going in Professor McGonagall's cheek. Snape looked as though someone had just fed him a large beaker of Skele-Gro.

'Happy Valentine's Day!' Lockhart shouted. 'And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards!'

'Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all, and it doesn't end here!'

Lockhart clapped his hands and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarfs. Not just any dwarfs, however. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

'My friendly, card-carrying cupids!' beamed Lockhart. 'They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!''

Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands, and Professor Snape was looking as though the first person to ask him for a Love Potion would be force-fed poison.

'_Poor man, I hope none of the fanharts are stupid enough.'_

'Please, Hermione, tell me you weren't one of the forty-six,' said Ron as they left the Great Hall for their first lesson. Hermione suddenly became very interested in searching her bag for her schedule and didn't answer. Elizabeth had her suspicions, but hoped she was wrong. All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers, and late that afternoon as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of the dwarfs caught up with Elizabeth.

'Oy, you! 'Elizabeth Potter!' shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to her.

Hot all over at the thought of being given a valentine in front of a line of first years, which happened to include some of Colin's friends as well as Georgiana and Ginny who looked quite pale and sickly. Elizabeth tried to escape the scene; the dwarf however, cut his way through the crowd by kicking people's shins, and reached her before she had gone two paces.

'I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Elizabeth Potter in person,' he said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way. A bunch of other people showed up including Malfoy and Pansy just as the dwarf began singing.

'_Her eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,_

_Her hair is as red as a herring,_

_I wish she was mine, she's really divine,_

_The heroine who conquered the Dark Lord_.'

Elizabeth felt herself blush red and felt her hair shift to match as the crowd began laughing their heads off.

'_Fred and George, those guys are for it when I think up a good prank.'_

Elizabeth got through the rest of the day without further incidents, although some of her classmates started singing the valentine song just to annoy her. Another dwarf found her just as class finished and passed her a piece of parchment, which she opened and read:

'_Hair as lovely as a summer sunset_

_Voice as beautiful as a bright song _

_Eyes as bright and wondrous as an Aurora_

_The fair lady who felled the dark lord.'_

Elizabeth felt herself blushing again as she read the poem, there was no signature but the handwriting was familiar enough to identify the author and she smiled over at him and watched the blush form on his face.

'_I wonder if Charles wrote one for Jane?' _Elizabeth thought as she gazed at her friends.

Elizabeth went to bed before anyone else in her dormitory that night. This was mainly because she didn't think she could stand Fred and George singing, 'Her eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad' one more time.

Elizabeth got changed into her nightdress and got into bed, the days events having exhausted her and almost immediately fell into a dream. She saw the diary, the pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a high wind, stopping halfway through the month of June, the page glowing with a bright light. Elizabeth felt her body leave her bed, and she was pitched headfirst through the opening in the page, into a whirl of colour and shadow.

She felt her feet hit solid ground, and stood, shaking, as the blurred shapes around her came suddenly into focus. She knew immediately where she was. This circular room with the sleeping portraits was Dumbledore's office, but it wasn't Dumbledore who was sitting behind the desk. A wizened, frail-looking wizard, bald except for a few wisps of white hair, was reading a letter by candlelight. Elizabeth had never seen this man before and figured he must be a previous headmaster.

'I'm sorry,' she said shakily. 'I didn't mean to intrude sir.'

"But the wizard didn't look up. He continued to read, frowning slightly. Elizabeth drew nearer to his desk and stammered, 'Err, I'll just go back to the tower, shall I?'

Still the wizard ignored her and she guessed that the wizard could neither see nor hear her. The wizard folded up the letter with a sigh, stood up, walked right through Elizabeth without glancing at her, and went to draw the curtains at his window.

The sky outside the window was ruby-red; it seemed to be sunset. The wizard went back to the desk, sat down, and twiddled his thumbs, watching the door.

Elizabeth looked around the office, shocked at seeing a man walk straight through her. No Fawkes the phoenix, no whirring silver contraptions. This was Hogwarts as Riddle had known it; the diary had somehow pulled her into itself and brought her back in time.

There was a knock on the office door.

'Enter,' said the old wizard in a feeble voice.

A boy of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat, he looked familiar to Elizabeth somehow. A silver prefect's badge was glinting on his chest.

'Ah, Riddle,' said the Headmaster.

'You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?' said Riddle. He looked nervous.

'Sit down,' said Dippet. 'I've just been reading the letter you sent me.'

'Oh,' said Riddle. He sat down, gripping his hands together very tightly.

'My dear boy,' said Dipper kindly, 'I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer.'

'Surely you want to go home for the holidays?'

'No,' said Riddle at once. 'I'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that, to that.'

'You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?' said Dippet curiously.

'Yes, sir,' said Riddle, reddening slightly.

'You are Muggle-born?'

'Half-blood, sir,' said Riddle. 'Muggle father, witch mother.'

'And are both your parents?'

'My mother died just after I was born, sir. They told me at the orphanage she lived just long enough to name me, Tom after my father, Marvolo after my grandfather.'

Dipper clucked his tongue sympathetically. 'The thing is, Tom,' he sighed, 'Special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances…'

'You mean all these attacks, sir?' said Riddle, and Elizabeth moved closer, scared of missing anything.

'Precisely,' said the headmaster.' My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy… the death of that poor little girl… You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the, err, source of all this unpleasantness…'

Riddle's eyes had widened.

'Sir, if the person was caught, if it all stopped.'

'What do you mean?' said Dippet with a squeak in his voice, sitting up in his chair.' Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?'

'No, sir,' said Riddle quickly.

However, Elizabeth somehow knew in that instant that Riddle knew something, as a prankster and seeing others at work, she knew how to spot little tells when people were bluffing.

Dippet sank back, looking faintly disappointed.

'You may go, Tom…'

Riddle slid off his chair and slouched out of the room, Elizabeth followed him.

Down the moving spiral staircase they went, emerging next to the gargoyle in the darkening corridor. Riddle stopped, and so did Elizabeth, watching him. Elizabeth could tell that Riddle was doing some serious thinking; He was biting his lip, his forehead furrowed. Then, as though he had suddenly reached a decision, he hurried off, Elizabeth gliding noiselessly behind him. They did not see another person until they reached the entrance hall, when a tall wizard with long, sweeping auburn hair and a beard called to Riddle from the marble staircase.

'What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?'

Elizabeth gaped at the wizard. He was none other than a fifty-year-younger Dumbledore.

'I had to see the headmaster, sir,' said Riddle.

'Well, hurry off to bed,' said Dumbledore, giving Riddle exactly the kind of penetrating stare Elizabeth knew so well.

'Best not to roam the corridors these days. Not since…'

He sighed heavily, bade Riddle good night, and strode off. Riddle watched him walk out of sight and then, moving quickly, headed straight down the stone steps to the dungeons, with Elizabeth in hot pursuit.

But to Elizabeth's surprise Riddle led her not into a hidden passageway or a secret tunnel but to the very dungeon in which she had Potions with Snape.

The torches hadn't been lit, and when Riddle pushed the door almost closed, Elizabeth could only just see him, standing stock-still by the door, watching the passage outside. It felt to Elizabeth that they were there for at least an hour. All she could see was the figure of Riddle at the door, staring through the crack, waiting like a statue. Just when Elizabeth had stopped feeling expectant and tense and started wishing she could return to her bed, she heard something move beyond the door.

Someone was creeping along the passage. She heard whomever it was pass the dungeon where she and Riddle were hidden. Riddle, quiet as a shadow, edged through the door and followed, Elizabeth following behind. For perhaps five minutes, they followed the footsteps, until Riddle stopped suddenly, his head inclined in the direction of new noises. Elizabeth heard a cupboard door creak open, and then someone speaking in a hoarse whisper.

'C'mon… gotta get yeh outta here… C'mon now… in the box…'

Elizabeth thought to herself, '_Hey, I know that voice!'_

Riddle suddenly jumped around the corner, Elizabeth stepped out behind him, and Elizabeth could see the dark outline of a huge boy who was crouching in front of an open door, a very large box next to it.

'Evening, Rubeus,' said Riddle sharply.

The boy slammed the door shut and stood up. 'What yer doin' down here, Tom?'

Riddle stepped closer. 'It's all over,' he said. 'I'm going to have to turn you in, Rubeus. They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop.'

''N at d'yeh'

'I don't think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and.'

'It never killed no one!' said the large boy, backing against the closed door. From behind him, Elizabeth could hear a funny rustling and clicking.

'Come on, Rubeus,' said Riddle, moving yet closer. 'The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered…'

'It wasn't him!' roared the boy, his voice echoing in the dark passage. 'He wouldn'! He never!'

'Stand aside,' said Riddle, drawing out his wand. His spell lit the corridor with a sudden flaming light. The door behind the large boy flew open with such force it knocked him into the wall opposite. And out of it came something that made Elizabeth let out a long, piercing scream unheard by anyone.

A vast, low-slung, hairy body and a tangle of black legs; a gleam of many eyes and a pair of razor-sharp pincers, Riddle raised his wand again, but he was too late. The thing bowled him over as it scuttled away, tearing up the corridor and out of sight. Riddle scrambled to his feet, looking after it; he raised his wand, but the huge boy leapt on him, seized his wand, and threw him back down, yelling, 'NOOOOOO!'

The scene whirled, the darkness became complete; Elizabeth felt herself falling and suddenly sprang upright in bed, panting hard, her nightdress sticking to her in cold sweat.

'Lizzie! Are you ok?' Asked Jane and Charlotte as they rushed to her bedside.

'The diary, it just….It showed me a vision of Hagrid; he opened the chamber fifty years ago.' Elizabeth said, her eyes wide in shock as she considered what she had just seen.


	14. Chapter 14

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: K plus for the moment

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

_Authors note: _

Chapter 14: Cornelius Fudge

Elizabeth and her friends had always known that Hagrid had an unfortunate liking for large and monstrous creatures, she remembered him telling her of his desire for a dragon first time she'd met him. During their first year at Hogwarts, he had tried to raise a dragon in his little wooden house, and it would be a long time before they forgot the Cerberus he had named 'fluffy'. It therefore seemed logical to Elizabeth that if Hagrid had heard that a monster was hidden somewhere in the castle, he would have gone to any lengths for a glimpse of it. He had probably thought it was a shame that the monster had been cooped up so long, and thought it deserved the chance to stretch its many legs; Elizabeth could just imagine the thirteen-year-old Hagrid trying to fit a leash and collar on it, if what she saw was the monster of legend.

Elizabeth was equally certain that Hagrid would never have meant to kill anybody and didn't trust the vision she'd been shown and related to the others.

'Riddle _might_ have got the wrong person,' said Hermione.' Maybe it was some other monster that was attacking people…'

Jane added, "Hagrid was definitely keeping that thing as a pet, but it's unlikely that it was responsible."

'How many monsters d'you think this place can hold?' Ron asked dully.

'We always knew Hagrid had been expelled,' said Elizabeth miserably.' And the attacks must have stopped after Hagrid was kicked out. Otherwise, Riddle wouldn't have got his award.'

Charlotte looked around and said, "If it was a frame up, then Riddle must have been the real villain and then framed Hagrid to stop them closing Hogwarts."

Fitzwilliam spoke to the group at large and said, why would the diary show Lizzie the vision? To turn her against Hagrid? You met Hagrid down in Knockturn Alley, didn't you, before the start of tem?'"

'He was buying a Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent,' said Elizabeth quickly.

They all fell silent. After a long pause, Hermione voiced the knottiest question of all in a hesitant voice.

'Do you think we should go and _ask_ Hagrid about it all?'

'That'd be a cheerful visit,' said Ron. '"Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?"

In the end, they decided that they would not say anything to Hagrid unless there was another attack, and as more and more days went by with no whisper from the disembodied voice, they became hopeful that they would never need to talk to him about why he had been expelled. They all became convinced that the diary was the key to the attacks and Riddle the villain, but with no linking evidence, there was not a lot they could do. It was now nearly four months since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been Petrified, and nearly everybody seemed to think that the attacker, whoever it was, had retired for good. Peeves had finally got bored of his 'Oh, Potter, you rotter' song, and the last of the suspicious students had forgiven Elizabeth.

The time had come to choose their subjects for the third year, a matter that all of them looked at carefully with different thought processes guiding them as they examined the list of subjects they could take. Neville Longbottom had been sent letters from all the witches and wizards in his family, all giving him different advice on what to choose. Confused and worried, he sat reading the subject lists with his tongue poking out, asking people whether they thought Arithmancy sounded more difficult than the study of Ancient Runes. Elizabeth spoke to a lot of people including a few of the Professors, who were only too eager to give advice. Professor Snape took her aside one morning and said.

'Always play to your gifts Elizabeth, learn how to use your powers to your benefit. You have talent, raw power and the gift of foresight, you can use these.'

Elizabeth smiled and said, 'What would you recommend?'

Professor Snape looked at her and said, 'You have a gift of foresight, so Divination might be a good idea, Care of magical creatures is always a good choice, it's always better to know how to handle yourself if you should come across a strange beast. Lastly wizarding law and customs would be wise for you, knowing your legal rights is always a good thing and you were raised in a muggle household, so it'd be a good idea if you knew a little more wizarding tradition." He paused and looked at her, "ultimately, it's down to you to make the choice for yourself, I can only show you the door; you're the one that must walk through it.'

Elizabeth smiled and thanked him before she went back to the common room and picked her subjects. Quidditch training began to heat up, as Gryffindor's next game would be against Hufflepuff in a few days time. Wood was insisting on team practices every night after dinner, so that Elizabeth barely had time for anything but Quidditch and homework, many of her other concerns driven from her mind. However, the training sessions were getting better, or at least drier, and the evening before Saturday's match she went up to her dormitory to drop off her broomstick feeling Gryffindor's chances for the Quidditch cup had never been better, as the team were all flying well, but her cheerful mood didn't last long. At the top of the stairs to the dormitory, she met Lavender Brown who was looking hysterical.

'Lizzie, I don't know who did it; I just found, your things…..'

Watching Elizabeth fearfully, Lavender pushed open the door.

The contents of Elizabeth's trunk had been thrown everywhere.

Books, clothes and instruments lay strewn all over the floor while her bed had been ripped apart, with feathers lying everywhere.

Parvati, Jane, Hermione and Charlotte all came in and Charlotte swore in Gaelic.

'What happened, Lizzie?' asked Jane.

'No idea,' said Elizabeth, as she idly began to pick up her possessions and sorting through them, a feeling of dread descending on her as the one thing she couldn't see was the one thing she was looking for, and it also happened to be the one things she didn't want to have.

'Someone has been looking for something,' said Hermione.' Is there anything missing?'

'Riddle's diary's gone,' she said in a whisper, "and god help anyone who's got it, I think it is like the ring in a way, it makes whoever holds it do it's bidding to return it to it's master.'

'What?' Oh no, if you're right, and that's why there have been no attacks…..' Hermione looked aghast and fearful as they went back to the common room and told the boys what had happened, Charles sputtering.

'But, only a Gryffindor girl could have stolen, nobody else knows our password and the stairs are warded, we can't get up even if we tried.'

'Exactly,' said Elizabeth.

They woke the next day to a glorious day and Wood was particularly happy as he addressed his team.

'Perfect Quidditch conditions!' said Wood enthusiastically at the Gryffindor table, loading the team's plates with scrambled eggs. 'Lizzie, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast.'

Elizabeth had been staring down the packed Gryffindor table, wondering if the new owner of Riddle's diary was right in front of her eyes, doing her best to seek the sense of dread fear the diary seemed to emit. She had reported the theft to Professor's McGonagall and Snape, both of whom had looked sickened when Elizabeth had explained her theory about the diary, but despite a search of the entire tower by the two of them, and the prefects supervising trunk searches of the entire house, the diary had not been found. Elizabeth finished her breakfast and went up to grab her gear for the game, and then it came, the voice of dread.

'_Kill this time… let me rip… tear…'_

Elizabeth shouted aloud and people nearby moved away in alarm

'The voice!' said Elizabeth, -looking over her shoulder.' I just heard it again; watch out, the monster's loose! Everyone get out of the castle.'

Those around her screamed and ran for it; Ron shook his head, wide-eyed. Hermione, however, clapped a hand to her forehead. 'Lizzie, I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library! I think I might know what the monster is.'

Jane looked at her sister and the others and said, "'two's better than one Mione, we need to get this done quick,' she then followed Hermione.

'_What_ does Hermione understand?' said Elizabeth distractedly; still looking around, trying to tell where the voice had come from.

'Loads more than I do,' said Ron, shaking his head.

Charles's eyes widened as he looked at the emblem on the robes of a passing Slytherin and said, 'I've just had a thought, I just hope I'm wrong…'

He whispered into Charlotte's ear and Elizabeth saw her eyes widen in fear, but before he could elaborate however, Wood came over and told Elizabeth to get moving and she raced to Gryffindor Tower, collected her broomstick and joined the large crowd swarming across the grounds. However, her mind was not on the game but instead she felt a growing sense of dread, as if the lurking evil in the shadows was poised to strike. The teams walked onto the field to the cheers of the crowd, ready for the game, Oliver Wood took off for a warm-up flight around the goal posts; Madam Hooch released the balls. The Hufflepuffs were huddled together discussing strategy and Elizabeth was just mounting her broom when Professor McGonagall came half marching, half running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.

'_Oh no, god no, not Hermione…Jane.' _Thought Elizabeth in despair.

'This match has been cancelled,' Professor McGonagall called through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium.

There were boos and shouts. Oliver Wood, looking devastated, landed and ran toward Professor McGonagall without getting off his broomstick. 'But, Professor!' he shouted. 'We've got to play — the cup —_Gryffindor_ —'

Professor McGonagall ignored him and continued to shout through her megaphone:

'All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!'

Then she lowered the megaphone and beckoned Elizabeth over to her.

'Potter, I think you'd better come with me…'

Wondering how she could possibly suspect her this time, Elizabeth saw Ron and the others detach themselves from the complaining crowd and come running up to them as they set off toward the castle, the Professor looked grave and said.

'Yes, perhaps you'd better come along, all of you.'

She said something in Gaelic to Charlotte and then drew her daughter close to her as they walked along, and Elizabeth could sense the fear and dread descend on the castle as they walked along. Some of the students swarming around them were grumbling about the match being cancelled; others had the dark emotions etched on their faces, the fear in the air spreading like a plague as Elizabeth and the others followed Professor McGonagall back into the school and up the marble staircase. However, they were not taken to anybody's office this time.

'This will be a bit of a shock,' said Professor McGonagall in a surprisingly gentle voice as they approached the infirmary.' There has been another attack… a _treble_ attack.'

Elizabeth felt herself recoil in shock as she looked at the figures lying in the hospital beds; Madam Pomfrey was bending over a fifth-year girl with long, curly hair. Elizabeth recognized her as the Ravenclaw they had accidentally asked for directions to the Slytherin common room.

And on the two beds next to her were.

'_Hermione and Jane!_' Ron groaned.

"Oh no," said Fitzwilliam, looking extremely grave.

The two sisters lay side by side, as if carved from stone, eyes wide in shock.

"_No!" _shouted Charles and he started running, only for Elizabeth and Charlotte to grab him and hold him back, where he strained against them for awhile before he was led to a seat near Hermione and Jane, and given a calming draught.

'They were found near the library,' said Professor McGonagall as Charles calmed down.' I don't suppose any of you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them…'

She was holding up a small, circular mirror.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and said, 'before the game, Hermione said she'd figured out what the monster is, said she needed to go and look it up. Jane followed along to help her, they must have figured it out and then been silenced before they could talk. The mirror must have something to do with it.'

' I shall see what I can find out, now I shall take you all back to Gryffindor Tower,' said Professor McGonagall heavily.' I need to address the students in any case.'

Therefore, that is what she did, leading them back into the common room and addressing the house.

'All students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time.'

'You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed and there will be no more evening activities.'

The Gryffindors packed inside the common room listened to Professor McGonagall in silence. She rolled up the parchment from which she had been reading and said in a somewhat choked voice, 'I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught.

I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward.'

She drew her daughters aside and spoke to them for a time, the grave look of a worried mother clear to Elizabeth, as she couldn't understand the Gaelic words that passed between the three McGonagall's. She climbed somewhat awkwardly out of the portrait hole, and the Gryffindors began talking immediately.

'That's three Gryffindors down, not counting a Gryffindor ghost, one Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff,' said the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan, counting on his fingers. 'Haven't _any_ of the teachers noticed that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it _obvious_ all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the _monster_ of Slytherin, why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?' he roared, to nods and scattered applause.'

Elizabeth looked at them and said, 'Because it isn't that simple, it's not one person, it's an old artefact. It works by possession, all it needs is a vulnerable person, and I think whoever possesses the dark object is actually a Gryffindor.'

The twins and Lee gasped and said, 'But who?'

Elizabeth looked grave and said, 'I really wish I did know.'

Percy Weasley was sitting in a chair behind Lee, but for once, he didn't seem keen to make his views heard. He was looking pale and stunned.

'Percy's in shock,' George told Elizabeth quietly. 'That Ravenclaw girl, Penelope Clearwater, she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the monster would dare attack a _prefect_.'

Elizabeth wasn't listening, she couldn't get the picture of two of her best friends laying side by side, eyes wide open, she could see Charles sitting nearby, the shock and sadness clear on his face.

'_Poor Charles, this must really be awful for him, he's adored Jane since they met.'_

Elizabeth and Charlotte did their best to try to comfort him but had their own dread to face as well, Elizabeth in particular. If the culprit wasn't caught soon, she was looking at a lifetime back with the Dursleys. While Tom Riddle was a villain, a part of her sympathised with him for dreading a cold reception in an orphanage.

'What're we going to do?' said Ron quietly in Elizabeth's ear. 'D'you think they suspect Hagrid?'

'We've got to go and talk to him,' said Elizabeth, making up her mind. 'I can't believe it's him this time, but he must at least know what it is and how it gets around.'

'But McGonagall said we've got to stay in our tower unless we're in class," said Fitzwilliam.

'I think, we'll need my father's legacy for this,' said Elizabeth.

Charles was too distraught to leave the tower, and Charlotte was doing her best to keep an eye on him, so Ron and Fitzwilliam went with Elizabeth that night. Getting outside was tricky as their were teachers, prefects and ghosts everywhere. When they did get outside it was a clear, starry night, they hurried toward Hagrid's hut and knocked on his front door only to find themselves looking at the business end of his crossbow with Fang the boarhound barking loudly behind him.

'Oh,' he said, lowering the weapon and staring at them. 'What're you three doin' here?'

'What's that for?' said Elizabeth pointing at the crossbow as they stepped inside.

'Nothin' — nothin' —' Hagrid muttered. 'I've bin expectin' — doesn' matter — Sit down — I'll make tea —'

He seemed very nervous for some reason, and to Elizabeth, he looked like he was expecting an attack and didn't wish to be taken alive.

'Are you okay, Hagrid?' said Elizabeth.' Did you hear about Hermione and Jane?'

'Oh, I heard, all righ',' said Hagrid, a slight break in his voice, poor things, how's Charles?'

'Not good,' said Fitzwilliam, 'Charlottes doing what she can, but everyone's shaken up.'

Hagrid kept glancing nervously at the windows and He poured them all large mugs of boiling water (he had forgotten to add tea bags) and was just putting a slab of fruitcake on a plate when there was a loud knock on the door.

Hagrid dropped the fruitcake and seized his bow again; Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam and Ron exchanged panic-stricken looks, then threw the Invisibility Cloak back over themselves and retreated into a corner.

'Good evening, Hagrid.' It was Dumbledore.

He entered, looking deadly serious, and was followed by a second, very odd-looking man. The stranger had rumpled gray hair and an anxious expression, and was wearing a strange mixture of clothes: a pinstriped suit, a scarlet tie, a long black cloak, and pointed purple boots. Under his arm, he carried a lime-green bowler.

'That's Dad's boss!' Ron breathed. 'Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic!'

Fitzwilliam whacked Ron in the stomach to quieten him as the odd-looking politician came in. Hagrid had gone pale and sweaty. He dropped into one of his chairs and looked from Dumbledore to Cornelius Fudge.

'Bad business, Hagrid,' said Fudge in rather clipped tones. 'Very bad business. Had to come. Four attacks on Muggle-borns. Things've gone far enough. Ministry's got to act.'

'I never,' said Hagrid, looking imploringly at Dumbledore. 'You know I never, Professor Dumbledore, sir.'

'I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence,' said Dumbledore, frowning at Fudge."

'Look, Albus,' said Fudge, uncomfortably. 'Hagrid's record is against him. Ministry's got to do something, the school governors have been in touch.'

'Yet again, Cornelius, I tell you that taking Hagrid away will not help in the slightest,' said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were full of a fire Elizabeth had never seen before.

'Look at it from my point of view Albus,' said Fudge, fidgeting with his bowler.' I am under a lot of pressure. Have to be seen to be doing something. If it turns out it wasn't Hagrid, he'll be back and no more said. However, I've got to take him. Got to. Wouldn't be doing my duty to the people, end of my career.'

'Take me?' said Hagrid, who was trembling.' Take me where?'

'For a short stretch only,' said Fudge, not meeting Hagrid's eyes. 'Not a punishment, Hagrid, more a precaution. If someone else is caught, you'll be let out with a full apology and given compensation for previous treatment.'

'Not Azkaban?' croaked Hagrid.

Before Fudge could answer, there was another loud rap on the door.

Dumbledore answered it. It was Elizabeth's turn to be quietened as Fitzwilliam covered her mouth with his hand. Mr. Lucius Malfoy strode into Hagrid's hut, swathed in a long black travelling cloak, smiling a cold and satisfied smile.

Fang started to growl and Elizabeth glared at the man who she knew was partly responsible for the mess the castle was in.

'Already here, Fudge,' he said approvingly. 'Good, good…'

'What're you doin' here?' said Hagrid furiously. 'Get outta my house!'

He aimed the bow at Malfoy and loosed the safety catch, finger on the trigger before Dumbledore shook his head at Hagrid and waved his wand and changed the bow into a small brown and white rabbit, which began snuffling and hopping around the room.

'My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being inside your, err D'you call this a house?' said Lucius Malfoy, sneering as he looked around the small cabin. 'I simply called at the school and was told that the headmaster was here.'

'And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?' said Dumbledore. He spoke politely, but the fire was still blazing in his blue eyes.

'_Dreadful_ thing, Dumbledore,' said Malfoy lazily, taking out a long roll of parchment, 'but the governors feel it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension; you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? Three more this afternoon, wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an _awful_ loss that would be to the school.'

'Oh, now, see here, Lucius,' said Fudge, looking alarmed, 'Dumbledore suspended no, no, last thing we want just now.'

'The appointment or suspension of the headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge,' said Mr. Malfoy smoothly. 'And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks.'

'See here, Malfoy, if _Dumbledore_ can't stop them,' said Fudge, whose upper lip was sweating now, 'I mean to say, who _can_?'

'That remains to be seen,' said Mr. Malfoy with a nasty smile.' But as all twelve of us have voted.'

Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling.

'An' how many did yeh have ter threaten an' blackmail or bribe before they agreed, Malfoy, eh?' he roared."

'Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid,' said Mr. Malfoy. 'I would advise you not to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like it at all.'

'Yeh can' take Dumbledore!' yelled Hagrid, making Fang the boarhound cower and whimper in his basket. 'Take him away, an' the Muggle-borns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin' next!'

'Calm yourself, Hagrid,' said Dumbledore sharply. He looked at Lucius Malfoy.

'If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside.'

'But,' stuttered Fudge.

'_No!_' growled Hagrid.

Dumbledore had not taken his bright blue eyes off Lucius Malfoy's cold gray ones.

'However,' said Dumbledore, speaking very slowly and clearly, so that none of them could miss a word, 'you will find that I will only _truly_ have left this school when none here are loyal to me… Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.'

For a second, Elizabeth was almost sure Dumbledore's eyes flickered toward the corner where she, Fitzwilliam and Ron were hidden.

'Admirable sentiments,' said Malfoy, bowing.' We shall all miss your, err, highly individual way of running things, Albus, and only hope your successor will manage to prevent any, ah, killins.'

He strode to the cabin door, opened it, and bowed Dumbledore out. Fudge, fiddling with his bowler, waited for Hagrid to go ahead of him, but Hagrid stood his ground, took a deep breath, and said carefully, 'If anyone wanted ter find out some _stuff_, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the _spiders_. That'd lead 'em right. That's all I'm sayin'.'

Fudge stared at him in amazement. 'All right, I'm comin',' said Hagrid, pulling on his moleskin overcoat. But as he was about to follow Fudge through the door, he stopped again and said loudly, 'An' someone'll need ter feed Fang while I'm away.'

The door banged shut and Ron pulled off the Invisibility Cloak.

'We're in trouble now,' Ron said hoarsely. 'No Dumbledore. They might as well close the school tonight. There'll be an attack a day with him gone.'

'Malfoy, he's trying to stop anyone who can stop his scheme, Hagrid must know the truth about the chamber and the monster, and Dumbledore's probably one of only a few who could kill the monster.'

Fang started howling, scratching at the closed door.


	15. Chapter 15

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

Chapter 15: The Truth is Stranger than Fiction

_Authors note: At last, I am getting towards the end of Chamber of Secrets, the end of which will introduce my next big twists to the cannon plot. Once I am finished with Chamber of Secrets, Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets will be adjusted to take out the worst of the grammar mistakes, before I start writing my take on Prisoner of Azkaban. That being said enjoy the last few chapters and don't forget to leave a review. Warning, this chapter contains some disturbing allusions, I am sorry about it but it was necessary in order to close Lockhart's thread in the plot. This is why I've upped the rating to be on the safe side._

Summer came to the castle of Hogwarts, but with the climate of fear that had descended over the land; the chill of midwinter would have been warmer. Elizabeth often saw Tom in her dreams taunting her, sitting in the headmaster's chair, laughing in gloating tones. Elizabeth constantly thought of Dumbledore's final words to her. 'I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me… Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.' But what good were these words? Who exactly were they supposed to ask for help, when everyone was just as confused and scared as they were? Hagrid's hint about the spiders was far easier, but also potentially far more dangerous, as knowing Hagrid's reputation for loving dangerous creatures and remembering the spider from Riddle's vision, Elizabeth felt wary of following Hagrid's advice without looking for more details. Elizabeth and her friends were hampered, of course, by the fact that they were not allowed to wander off on their own but had to move around the castle in a pack with the other Gryffindors and that access to the library was restricted. The student body was for the most part grateful of the escort the teachers were providing, but Elizabeth wasn't as she felt that she was so close to being able to find the truth if she had the right information. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were strutting around the school as though they had just been appointed Head Boy and Girl. Elizabeth figured it was something to do with the Commission and was proved right a few days later when she overheard him bragging to his two goons.

'I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst headmaster the school's ever had. Maybe we'll get a decent headmaster now. Someone who won't want the Chamber of Secrets closed. McGonagall won't last long; she's only filling in…'

Snape swept past Elizabeth, making no comment about Hermione's and Jane's empty seats and cauldrons, but his eyes rested on Elizabeth and showed the worry and sadness that he didn't dare voice.

'Sir,' said Malfoy loudly. 'Sir, why don't you apply for the headmaster's job?'

'Now, now, Malfoy,' said Snape, giving a thin-lipped smile.' The governors have only suspended Professor Dumbledore. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough.'

'Yeah, right,' said Malfoy, smirking.' I expect you'd have Father's and Salazar's votes, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job, I'll tell Father you're the best teacher here, sir.'

Snape swept off and continued the lesson as Pansy spoke up from beside Malfoy.

'I'm quite surprised the Mudbloods haven't all packed their bags by now,' 'Bet you five Galleons the next one dies, pity it wasn't the Grangers.'

The bell rang at that moment, which was lucky as it took the combined efforts of Ron and Fitzwilliam to restrain Charles, while a sudden burst of magic from Elizabeth shattered several glass bottles on a shelf nearby to Malfoy's and Pansy's seats raining shards of glass and their contents onto where they were just sitting. Professor Snape swept over, took one look at the scene and sighed before taking Elizabeth's arm, leading her aside, and whispering to her.

'Calm yourself Elizabeth, I know how you feel, believe me, I hate the loathsome little bastard and his pug faced bitch just as much as you do, unfortunately killing them now would cause more problems than it would solve. In time we will destroy them, but for now we must bide our time.'

Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam looked murderous as Elizabeth came over to them as Snape bade them all into line, took them out of the castle, and led them towards the greenhouses. The group was far more subdued than previously as Professor Sprout set them all to work. Elizabeth was approached by Ernie during the class and Ernie took a deep breath and said, very formally, 'I just want to say, Elizabeth, that I'm sorry I ever suspected you, I know you'd never attack the Granger twins and I apologize for all the stuff I said. We're all in the same boat now, and, well.'

He held out a pudgy hand, and Elizabeth shook it, Ernie and his friends Hannah and Susan came to work besides Elizabeth, Charlotte, Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam.

'That Draco Malfoy character,' said Ernie, breaking off dead twigs, 'he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think he might be Slytherin's heir.'

'That's clever of you,' said Ron, who didn't seem to have forgiven Ernie as readily as Elizabeth.

'Do you think it's Malfoy, Elizabeth?' Ernie asked.

'No, not him by himself anyway' said Elizabeth, which made all of the Hufflepuffs curious, especially Susan. Elizabeth noticed several spiders scuttling towards the forest at that point, she had only been in there once, and sincerely hoped never to go in again. As Elizabeth watched the spiders cross the threshold, she thought to herself.

'_There can't be that many species of spider that could talk in the languages of humans, maybe I should look up some information about it. And there must be some sort of official school records about the incident fifty years ago, maybe the twins might know where to look?'_

As Herbology ended and they were being escorted up to their next class. Elizabeth filled in the others on her plans who agreed wholeheartedly.

'Right,' said Ron, going in that forest is daft, and knowing Hagrid, those spiders must be huge, it sounds like a bloody suicide mission if you ask me, the information's got to be written down somewhere.'

Charlotte leaned closer and said, 'Mum told me once that disciplinary records and information about past incidents is kept in the caretaker's office, so that means we need to break into Filch's office.'

Charles still hadn't gotten over Jane's petrification but looked at the, and said, 'maybe we can get the twins to rig up a diversion, then you can sneak in with the cloak and pinch the records, how often are they looked at? I doubt anyone would even notice them missing.'

Elizabeth smiled and nodded before she looked at Lockhart, every other teacher on the faculty was looking grimmer than usual, but Lockhart appeared nothing short of buoyant. 'Come now,' he cried, beaming around him.' Why all these long faces?'

People swapped exasperated looks, but nobody answered.

'Don't you people realize,' said Lockhart, speaking slowly, as though they were all a bit dim, 'the danger has passed! The culprit has been taken away.'

'Says who?' said Dean Thomas loudly.

'My dear young man, the Minister of Magic would not have taken Hagrid if he hadn't been one hundred percent sure that he was guilty,' said Lockhart, in the tone of someone explaining that one and one made two.

'Oh, yes he would,' said Ron, even more loudly than Dean did.

'I flatter myself I know a touch more about Hagrid's arrest than you do, Mr. Weasley,' said Lockhart in a self-satisfied tone. Ron started to say that he didn't think so, somehow, but stopped in mid-sentence when Elizabeth leaned over, whacked him under the table and whispered, 'we weren't there, remember?'

But Lockhart's disgusting cheeriness, his hints that he had always thought Hagrid was no good, his confidence that the whole business was now at an end, irritated Elizabeth to no end and the heat in the room began to rise steadily to the point where it felt more like a sauna than a classroom and Fitzwilliam leaned over and whispered,

'Lizzie, concentrate, cooking us all won't help anybody.'

Elizabeth swallowed and tried to calm down as the class continued, and when it ended, they went back up to the common room. She found Fred and George and filled them in on what she wanted and found them eager to help as usual when it came to mayhem.

'Seriously Lizzie, pinching the school incident records?'

'Can we ask a small favour in return?'

'He nicked a perfectly good crate of some of our prototypes off us a few days ago.'

'Think you could get it back for us?'

Elizabeth agreed and got her friends in to help lay plans, in the end the idea was pretty simple. Fred and George would plant a crate of improvised pyrotechnics and potions in one of Filch's supply cupboard designed to create a huge amount of mess and noise in the area which would be timed to go off just after dinner the next evening. This would inevitably draw Filch and the Professor's gaze away from his office. Whereupon Elizabeth would sneak into Filch's office, take what she needed and then stash the crate en route back to the tower to avoid immediate suspicion falling on the twins. So the next morning, Elizabeth went about her usual routine of classes and made sure to ask obscure questions of all her teachers to ensure they would remember her attendance that day. Then later on, she sat down to eat her dinner with the others in a spot clearly visible from the faculty table. When she had eaten enough, Elizabeth laid down her knife and fork and looked around at the others, receiving a nod from each of them, as they got ready to execute the plan.

The Professors lined up groups by houses and then led them to their dormitories after dinner each night on a rotating roster and Elizabeth had chosen this night as she knew that Lockhart had the time allocated to take the Gryffindors up. She looked down at her watch, the detonation was scheduled to go off approximately 10 minutes after dinner which would put them about two thirds of the way between the great hall and the tower.

'_Showtime, I just hope the twins got the timing mechanism right….' _thought Elizabeth anxiously as the Gryffindors began to form up, ready to be marched upstairs.

Fitzwilliam seemed to know what Elizabeth was thinking and said, 'It's alright Lizzie, we've been through this, and it shouldn't take any more than five minutes. He's a squib, so I doubt the filing cabinets are warded, and it'll take them ages to figure out that the files were the real target.'

Elizabeth smiled as she felt Fitzwilliam squeeze her hand and then got into line just as the group set off, listening to Lockhart prattling on about fighting a horde of zombies in Transylvania that had been created by a mad ex Nazi scientist.

As they reached, the fourth floor there was the sudden sound of a distant explosion, which shook the castle, causing many of the people around her to scream.

'_Good old Gred and Forge, right on time, now for phase two…..'_ Thought Elizabeth with a smile.

Lockhart was his usual self important self, 'all right Gryffindors, you're nearly at the tower, head on up while I find out what just happened, Prefect, count heads once you're all inside.'

Elizabeth smiled and took her invisibility cloak from her bag, swung it over her head and hurried off towards Filch's office, getting there in a matter of minutes. Finding it deserted she strode to the filing cabinets and found one labelled:

_SERIOUS INCIDENT REPORTS_

Elizabeth pulled the drawers open and found an aged, thick file manila file for the year 1942 and took the lot, and stuffed it in her bag before closing the cabinet and finding another marked:

_CONFISCATED AND HIGHLY DANGEROUS_

She quickly found a wooden box that was labelled as having been seized from the Weasley twins three days ago and took it before shutting the cabinet, heading out and running up towards the tower. On the way she passed by a scene of humorous devastation. Filch's cleaning cupboard had been blown to smithereens, the contents strewn all over the hall in bits, but what added to the devastation was the liquid, rainbow coloured fluid that had gone everywhere blown out by the explosion. A heavy smell of flowers mixed with cleaning product hung in the air. A knot of curious professors were standing around, all of them shaking their heads in dismay, though a few of them were smiling.

Elizabeth walked passed them and stashed the crate inside a disused classroom one floor up and made it up to the tower just as the last students were climbing in and Percy started to call the roll. Once that was done, she walked over to the twins, a smile on her face, bent close, and whispered to them.

'It's done, thanks guys, it went like clockwork. I really owe you for that, your crates in the empty classroom one floor down from here; I've got it stuck under the teachers desk with a temporary sticking charm.'

Fred and George smiled and said, 'No problem Lizzie… we fancied doing a prank anyway… Just to brighten things up a bit…'

Elizabeth laughed along with them and then borrowed Georges care of magical creatures book and then found a table in the corner where Charlotte, Ron, Charles and Fitzwilliam joined her and started flipping through the incident reports and the book.

Ron was the first to have any luck, as he found a reference to what Hagrid would have sent them to in the forest a little while later as he started swearing his head off and said.

'Bloody hell, if Hagrid gets out of Azkaban, I'll kill him myself, what was he thinking telling us to go see this thing, we'd never get away alive.'

Elizabeth and the others bent closer to read:

_The Acromanutla_

_This giant Arachnid, known widely as the king of the spiders lives for up to 70 years and has been known to grow to the size of an African Elephant. Found in the deep forests of Northern Europe and Russia. It is known to be able to speak in the tones of men, though few would ever dare approach it, as it has been known to kill a full-grown adult in a matter of minutes. Only one animal will ever send it to flight and that is the Basilisk. Parts and secretions of the acromantula are used in several high end potions and as such there is a market in the trade of acromanutla parts, but when facing a single full grown beast, it will usually take a party of skilled wizards however none have ever returned alive from attempting to enter a colony._

The article was accompanied by a moving picture of a giant spider that reminded Elizabeth of Shelob from Lord of the Rings, a half dozen wizards were battling the giant spider. Everyone shook their heads at Hagrid's stupidity as they imagined walking into the forbidden forest to meet a full-grown acromantula at the end.

Charlotte found the other piece of information they were looking for a few minutes later as she flipped through incident reports from 1942.

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Form 1232(B)_

_Student Fatality Report_

Charlotte read a few names of teachers and the healer at the time that did not mean much before she found more relevant information.

_Student Name: Myrtle Mallone, (age 17, Ravenclaw house)_

_Location Found: Girls Bathroom, Third Floor._

_Cause of Death: The student appears to have suffered a fatal petrification in connection with the recent spate of incidents relating to the 'Chamber of Secrets'. _

_Concluding Remarks: Student Rubeus Hagrid (age 13 years, Gryffindor house) was apprehended in connection with the incident after he was found in the possession of a dangerous magical beast in the dungeons by Prefect Tom Riddle (age 15, Slytherin house). Hagrid was henceforth expelled from school though has been offered employment as apprentice gamekeeper._

Elizabeth gasped along with the others as they read the information in the aged parchment, locked away in the caretakers filing cabinet for fifty years.

'The student who was killed, Myrtle, she was found in a girl's bathroom…..' Said Elizabeth.

Charlotte caught on instantly and said, 'Are you saying…'

Fitzwilliam nodded, 'I can't believe this, moaning Myrtle was the victim? But what do you think actually killed her, and how is it getting around, no way is it an acromantula.'

The castle was now locked down tighter than a fortress, getting to Myrtle was now all but impossible, but a distraction came to everyone when Professor McGonagall announced that the exams were coming during her class.

'_Exams_?' howled Seamus Finnigan. 'We're still getting _exams_?'

There was a loud bang behind Elizabeth as Neville Longbottom's wand slipped, vanishing one of the legs on his desk. Professor McGonagall restored it with a wave of her own wand, and turned, frowning, to Seamus.

'The whole point of keeping the school open at this time is for you to receive your education,' she said sternly. 'The exams will therefore take place as usual, and I trust you are all studying hard.'

Studying hard! "_How can we study when all this is going on? 'There_ was a great deal of mutinous muttering around the room, which made Professor McGonagall scowl even more darkly. Professor Dumbledore's instructions were to keep the school running as normally as possible,' she said. 'And that, I need hardly point out, means finding out how much you have learned this year.'

Ron looked as though he had just been told he had to go and live with the acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest.

'Can you imagine me taking exams with this?' he asked Elizabeth, holding up his wand, which had just started whistling loudly.

Charlotte leaned closer and said, 'You could always try and use one of ours, and surely you'd do better than with that.'

The next day, Professor McGonagall began speaking about some good news, which created a tide of guesses from the student body. When the hubbub had subsided, Professor McGonagall said, 'Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit.'

There was an explosion of cheering at the news, Elizabeth looked over at the Slytherin table and wasn't at all surprised to see that Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson hadn't joined in.

Ron, Fitzwilliam and Charlotte however, were all looking happier than they'd looked in days, while Charles looked like he was waking up from a long sleep, as his eyes lost some of the haunted look that he'd had since he'd seen Jane in the hospital wing.

'It won't matter that we never asked Myrtle, then!' Charles said. 'Jane and Hermione will probably have all the answers when they wake up!'

'Mind you, Hermione will go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time," Ron smirked, "she hasn't studied, it might be kinder to leave her where she is till they're over.'

Elizabeth smiled at this and just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Elizabeth noticed that her hands were twisting in her lap and that she looked sick, as though she had the flu. Maria and Georgiana came over and fussed over the state of her, but she ignored them, leaned closer, and spoke. 'I've got to tell you something,' Ginny mumbled, not looking at anyone.

'What is it Ginny?" Asked Elizabeth.

Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words.

'_What?_' said Ron.

Ginny opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Elizabeth leaned forward and spoke quietly, so that only Ginny, Charlotte, Fitzwilliam and Ron could hear her.

'Is it something about the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something? Someone acting oddly?'

Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley appeared, looking tired and wan.

'If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving; I've only just come off patrol duty.'

Ginny jumped up as though her chair had just been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, frightened look, and scampered away. Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the centre of the table.

'Percy!' said Ron angrily. 'She was just about to tell us something important!'

Halfway through a gulp of tea, Percy choked.

'What sort of thing?' he said, coughing.

'I just asked her if she'd seen anything odd, and she started to say…'

'Oh that, that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets,' said Percy at once.

'How do you know?' said Ron, his eyebrows raised.

'Well, err, if you must know, Ginny, err, walked in on me the other day when I was well, never mind, the point is, she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody.'

'I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather.'

Elizabeth had never seen Percy look so uncomfortable, and wondered what he was doing.

'What were you doing, Percy?' said Ron, grinning.' Go on; tell us, we won't laugh.'

Percy didn't smile back. 'Pass me those rolls, Elizabeth, I'm starving.'

Elizabeth knew the whole mystery might be solved tomorrow without their help, but she wasn't about to pass up a chance to speak to Myrtle if it turned up and to her delight it did, midmorning, when they were being led to History of Magic by Professor Lockhart. Lockhart, who looked much less of his usual cocky self had so often assured them that all danger had passed, only to be proved wrong right away, was now wholeheartedly convinced that it was hardly worth the trouble to see them safely down the corridors.

'Mark my words,' he said, ushering them around a corner.' The first words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be _"It was Hagrid."_ Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary.'

'I agree, sir,' said Elizabeth, making Ron drop his books in surprise and Charlotte to look suspiciously at her.

'Thank you, Lizzie,' said Lockhart graciously while they waited for a long line of Hufflepuffs to pass.' I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night…'

'That's right sir,' said Ron, catching on. 'Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go'

'You know, Weasley, I think I will,' said Lockhart. 'I really should go and prepare my next class.'

'Prepare his class,' Ron sneered after him. 'Gone to curl his hair, more like.'

'Who cares, at least we've lost him,' said Fitzwilliam.

They let the rest of the Gryffindors draw ahead of them, then darted down a side passage and hurried off toward Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. But just as they were congratulating each other on their brilliant scheme.

'Potter! Peterson! Charlotte! Longbottom and Weasley! What are you all doing?'

It was Professor McGonagall, and her mouth was the thinnest of thin lines.

'We were, we were,' Ron stammered.' We were going to, to go and see.'

'Hermione and Jane,' said Elizabeth. Ron and Professor McGonagall both looked at her. 'We haven't seen them for ages, Professor,' Elizabeth went on hurriedly, treading on Ron's foot, 'and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know.'

Professor McGonagall was still staring at her, and for a moment, Elizabeth thought she was going to explode, but when she spoke, it was in a strangely croaky voice.

'Of course,' she said, and Elizabeth, amazed, saw a tear glistening in her beady eye.

'Of course, I realize this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been… I quite understand. Yes, Potter, of course you may all visit the Granger twins. I will inform Professor Binns where you've gone. Tell Madam Pomfrey I have given my permission.'

Elizabeth and her friends could not believe that had worked as they hurried off and as they turned the corner, they distinctly heard Professor McGonagall blow her nose.

'That,' said Ron fervently, 'was the best story you've ever come up with Lizzie.'"

"I can't believe that worked and mum actually fell for it, Lizzie, you are a genius." said Charlotte in awe. They had no choice now but to go to the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey that they had Professor McGonagall's permission to visit Hermione and Jane.

Madam Pomfrey let them in, but reluctantly and they all crowded around the two beds that held Hermione and Jane.

'Wonder if they did see the attacker, though?' said Ron, looking sadly at Hermione's rigid face." Because if he sneaked up on them all, no one'll ever know…'

But Elizabeth wasn't looking at Hermione or Jane's faces. She was more interested in Hermione's right hand. It lay clenched on top of her blankets, and bending closer, she saw that a piece of paper was scrunched inside her fist and quickly pointed it out to the others. It was no easy task to remove it; Hermione's hand was clamped so tightly around the paper that Elizabeth was sure she was going to tear it. While Ron and Fitzwilliam kept watch she tugged and twisted, and at last, after several tense minutes, the paper came free, it was a page torn from a very old library book.

Elizabeth smoothed it out eagerly and read it aloud, though softly:

_Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents._ _This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death._ _Spiders flee before the Basilisk,_ _for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it._

Beneath this text, a single word had been written hastily, in a hand Elizabeth recognized as Hermione's. '_Pipes.'_

Elizabeth went still in shock as everything became clear, as the events all fell into place in her head, she hurriedly explained her theories to the others, and Charles said.

'There's an old legend that Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth and that he kept snakes as familiars, apparently that's why the house symbol is a snake. But this…..'

He shook his head in dismay, the group began hurriedly discussing the events and quickly worked out how the snake had been moving in the walls, and the entrance to the chamber was in moaning Myrtles bathroom. Charlotte looked around and said.

'We have got to go get mum; this thing is way out of our league, a 1000 year old basilisk, attacking it by ourselves would be insanity. The odds against survival would be a million to one.'

'Let's go to the staff room quick,' said Elizabeth, jumping to her feet.' She'll be there in ten minutes, it's nearly break.'

They ran downstairs as fast as they could and they went straight into the deserted staff room. It was a large, panelled room full of dark, wooden chairs, they were all too anxious to sit and stood around waiting for the bell, but it never came as instead they heard Professor McGonagall's voice.

_'All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please.'_

Charles wheeled around to stare at Ron. 'Not another attack? Not now?'

'What'll we do?' said Ron, aghast.' Go back to the dormitory?'

'No,' said Charlotte, glancing around, there was an ugly sort of wardrobe to their left, full of the teachers' cloaks.' In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out.'

They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving overhead, and the staff room door banging open. From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.

'It has happened,' she told the silent staff room. 'A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself.'

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth; Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, 'How can you be sure?'

'The Heir of Slytherin,' said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, 'left another message. Right underneath the first one. _"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."_

Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

'Who is it?' said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a chair. 'Which student?'

'Ginny Weasley,' said Professor McGonagall.

Elizabeth felt Ron slide silently down onto the wardrobe floor beside her, utterly silent, eyes wide open in shock.

'We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow,' said Professor McGonagall.' This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said…'

The staffroom door banged open again. For one wild moment, Elizabeth was sure it would be Dumbledore. But it was Lockhart, and he was beaming. 'So sorry, dozed off, what have I missed?'

He didn't seem to notice that the other teachers were looking at him with something remarkably like hatred. Snape stepped forward. 'Just the man,' he said. 'The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last.'

Lockhart blanched, 'that's right, Gilderoy,' chipped in Professor Sprout.' Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?'

'I, well, I ….' sputtered Lockhart.' Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?' piped up Professor Flitwick.

'D-did I? I don't recall.'

'I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested,' said Snape. 'Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?'

Lockhart stared around at his stony-faced colleagues. 'I … I really never, you may have misunderstood me there.'

'We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last.'

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to the rescue. He did not look remotely handsome anymore. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usually toothy grin, he looked weak-chinned and feeble.

'V-very well,' he said.' I'll — I'll be in my office, getting — getting ready.'

And he left the room. 'Right,' said Professor McGonagall, whose nostrils were flared, 'that's got _him_ out from under our feet; the Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow, will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories.'

The teachers rose and left, one by one and left and what transpired was probably the worst day of Elizabeth's entire life. She, Charlotte, Fitzwilliam, Charles, Ron, Fred, and George all sat together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room unable to say anything to each other. Percy wasn't there as he had gone to send an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, then shut himself up in his dormitory. No afternoon ever lasted as long as that one, nor had Gryffindor Tower ever been so crowded, yet so quiet. Near sunset, Fred and George went up to bed, unable to sit there any longer.

'She had the diary Lizzie,' said Ron, speaking for the first time since they had entered the wardrobe in the staff room, 'that's why she was taken, to silence her.'

'She'd found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was ' Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. 'I mean, she is a pure-blood. There can't be any other reason.'

'D'you know what?' said Fitzwilliam.' I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know; he is going to try to get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a basilisk in there.'

Elizabeth agreed, 'He may be a useless idiot, but if he's going to try then I guess we should help him.'

They left and made their way downstairs to the Defence against the Dark Arts Office, there seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside it and they could hear scraping, thumps, and hurried footsteps.

Elizabeth knocked and there was a sudden silence from inside, then the door opened the tiniest crack and they saw one of Lockhart's eyes peering through it.

'Oh, Miss. Potter, Miss McGonagall, Mr Longbottom, Mr Peterson and Mr. Weasley ' he said, opening the door a bit wider. 'I'm rather busy at the moment, if you would be quick.

'Professor, we've got some information for you,' said Elizabeth, 'we think it'll help you.'

'Err; well it's not terribly ' The side of Lockhart's face that they could see looked very uncomfortable.' I mean, well, all right.'

He opened the door and they entered and found that his office had been almost completely stripped and two large trunks stood open on the floor. Robes, jade-green, lilac, midnight blue, had been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into the other. The photographs that had covered the walls were now crammed into boxes on the desk and Elizabeth couldn't help but notice the contents of one box that made her see red and she screamed.

'YOU DIRTY SWINE! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS; YOU THINK YOU'RE GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.'

Elizabeth's hair was now a mass of fire, the heat coming from her made an oven seem like a freezer by comparison and the glow coming from her made her all but impossible to look at directly.

'TALK YOU BASTARD, THE MORE YOU TALK, THE LONGER YOU LIVE!'

'My dear girl,' said Lockhart, straightening up, eyes wide in shock.' Do use your common sense. My books would not have sold half as well if people did not think _I'd_ done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a harelip. I mean, come on.'

'YOU'RE A FRAUD AS WELL? ON TOP OF THIS? AZKABAN IS TOO GOOD FOR YOU.'

A wave of fire shot from Elizabeth, destroyed most of the contents of the office, and burned every single hair from Lockhart's head.

'Spare me the moralistic high ground Elizabeth said Lockhart, shaking his head in defiance, 'it's not nearly as simple as that. There was work involved. I had to track these people down. Ask them exactly how they managed to do what they did. Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. If there is one thing I pride myself on, it is my Memory Charms. No, it has been a lot of work, Elizabeth. It is not all book signings and publicity photos, you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long hard slog, and as for my taste in pictures, the female body is just so beautiful, and I can say that I never hurt any of them.'

Fitzwilliam approached Elizabeth, the awe on his face clear and said, 'Lizzie, we have to go, you can kill Lockhart later, I know you want his head on a pike. Believe me, I do too now I've seen that box, which luckily you didn't burn.'

Elizabeth took a deep breath and the glow dimmed and the temperature in the room dropped back to normal, but before she went any further, she walked up, snatched the rogue would-be professor's wand, and threw it out the window.

'What d'you want me to do?' said Lockhart weakly.' I don't know where the Chamber of Secrets is, there's nothing I can do.'

'You're in luck,' said Charlotte, her face an uncanny mirror of her mother at her angriest, forcing Lockhart to his feet at wandpoint. 'We think _we_ know where it is. _And_ we know what's inside it, let's go you lecherous scum.'

They marched Lockhart out of his office and down the nearest stairs, along the dark corridor where the messages shone on the wall, to the door of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They sent Lockhart in first and Elizabeth was pleased to see that he was shaking. Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet.

'Oh, it's you,' she said when she saw Elizabeth. 'What do you want this time?'

'To ask you how you died,' said Elizabeth.

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once, she looked as though she had never been asked such a flattering question.

'Ooooh, it was dreadful,' she said with relish.' It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then, Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. 'I _died_.'

'How?' said Elizabeth.

'No idea,' said Myrtle in hushed tones. 'I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…'

She looked dreamily at Elizabeth, 'and then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses.'

'Where exactly did you see the eyes?' said Elizabeth.

'Somewhere there,' said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

Elizabeth and Ron hurried over, while Charlotte, Charles and Fitzwilliam kept Lockhart at wand point.

It looked like an ordinary sink. They examined every inch of it, inside and out, including the pipes below, and then Elizabeth saw it: Scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

'That tap's never worked,' said Myrtle brightly as she tried to turn it.

'Lizzie,' said Ron. 'Say something. Something in Parseltongue.'

'Open up,' she said.

She looked at Ron, who shook his head, 'English,' he said.

Elizabeth looked back at the snake, willing herself to believe it was alive, if she moved her head, the candlelight made it look as though it were moving.

'Open up,' she said.

Except that the words weren't what she heard; a strange hissing had escaped her, and at once, the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

'Let's go, but send him in first.' Elizabeth said, gesturing at Lockhart

White-faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening. 'What good will it do?'

So they forced him through, and then one by one, Elizabeth and her friends went in, sliding down the inside of the pipe. Just as Elizabeth began to worry about what would happen when she hit the ground, the pipe levelled out, and she shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. One by one, the others landed around her and Elizabeth spoke,

'We must be miles under the school,' said Elizabeth, her voice echoing in the black tunnel.

'Under the lake, probably,' said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

'Who cares where we are, let's get Ginny quickly and get out before the basilisk comes,' said Charlotte, fear clear on her face.

'_Lumos!_' Elizabeth muttered to her wand and it lit, casting a bright light around her that showed a natural cave formation around them.

'Remember,' Charles said quietly as they all walked cautiously forward, 'any sign of movement, close your eyes right away, and put him in front of everyone…'

Lockhart shuddered at the anger in the eyes of the group and wondered if being a Ministry Obliviator would have been a better career choice all those years ago. However, the tunnel was quiet as the grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud _crunch_ as Ron stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Elizabeth lowered her wand to look at the floor and saw that it was littered with small animal bones. Trying very hard not to imagine what Ginny might look like if they found her, Elizabeth led the way forward, around a dark bend in the tunnel.

'Lizzie, there's something up there ' said Ron hoarsely, grabbing Elizabeth shoulder. They froze, watching for movement, Elizabeth could just see the outline of something huge and curved, lying right across the tunnel but it wasn't moving.

'Maybe it's asleep,' she breathed, glancing back at the others. Lockhart's hands were pressed over his eyes, very slowly and carefully, Elizabeth moved forward and soon found a gigantic snakeskin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

'Blimey,' said Ron weakly, from beside Elizabeth.

'We're thinking of fighting a snake that big?' said Fitzwilliam.

There was a sudden movement behind them; Gilderoy Lockhart's knees had given way. 'Get up,' said Ron sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart.

Lockhart got to his feet, and then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground. Elizabeth jumped forward, but too late Lockhart was straightening up, panting, Ron's wand in his hand and a gleaming smile back on his face.

'The adventure ends here, boys and girls!' he said. 'I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you all _tragically_ lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body.'

"I don't think so, asshole. '_Expelliarmus!' 'Stupefy!' _Two red beams shot from Charles's wand and one hit Lockhart in the chest. Throwing him back and knocking him unconscious, and the other hit Ron's wand dead on. But unfortunately the strain on Ron's broken wand was too much and it flew into the air and exploded. The shockwave causing a rockfall in the tunnel and when the dust cleared, Elizabeth found she was cut off from the others by a huge pile of rock.

'Ron! Charles, Fitzwilliam, Charlotte!' she shouted. 'Are you all ok?'

'I'm here!' came Ron's muffled voice from behind the rockfall. The others all indicated their health; Elizabeth looked at the rockfall and the cave ceiling and grimaced, as she knew what she had to do.

'_Damn, guess I've got no choice….'_

'Wait there,' she called to the others, tie that bastard Lockhart up and I will go on… If I'm not back in an hour…'

'We'll try and shift some of this rock,' said Ron, who seemed to be trying to keep his voice steady. 'So you can, can get back through, and, Lizzie…'

'Don't go getting yourself killed,' finished Fitzwilliam.

'See you all later,' said Elizabeth, trying to inject some confidence into her shaking voice as she set off alone past the giant snake skin, and soon the distant noise of shifting rock was gone. The tunnel turned and turned again and every sense Elizabeth had was giving off unpleasant feelings, she wanted the tunnel to end, yet dreaded what she'd find when it did. Finally, Elizabeth came to the door at the end and stopped, facing the portal to Slytherins legacy. There was no need to pretend these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive. The way to open the door seemed obvious, Elizabeth cleared her throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.

'_Open_,' she said, in a low, faint hiss. The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Elizabeth, shaking from head to foot, walked inside, to face whatever lay inside waiting for her.


	16. Chapter 16

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

Chapter 16: Truth and Revelations

_Authors note: I'm surprised nobody caught on to Lockhart's crime as I put a few hints in during the course of my fic, but never mind, it will be revealed next chapter after Elizabeth kills off the basilisk. This chapter will reveal my next major twist, which I hope everyone likes. No angry mobs please, this chapter will shock everyone, but don't worry, and Lizzie makes it through just fine._

Elizabeth stood at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. A sense of ancient embedded evil seemed to permeate the air as she gazed around her, Elizabeth stood still, listening to the chill silence.

'_Where is it? And where is Ginny? She must be around here somewhere…' _Elizabeth thought anxiously.

Elizabeth drew her wand and moved forward slowly, keeping her eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following her.

'_I've got a bad feeling about this place…'_

Then, as Elizabeth drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. Elizabeth thought that either Salazar Slytherin was either extremely ugly, or the sculptor did a really bad job as the statue looked like an oversized monkey. Between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

'_Ginny No!_' Elizabeth muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to her knees. 'Ginny don't be dead, please don't be dead.'

Elizabeth put her wand away, grabbed Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she was not petrified. Then she must be.

'Ginny, please wake up,' Elizabeth muttered desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

'She won't wake,' said a soft voice. Elizabeth jumped to her feet, drew her wand, and looked as a tall, black-haired boy came into view from behind a pillar. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Elizabeth were looking at him through a misted window. However, there was no mistaking him, from the many visions she had seen.

Elizabeth aimed her wand without a second thought and shouted, '_Stupefy!'_

A jet of red light went straight through the pale figure without doing anything, Elizabeth's brow furrowed and she tried again. '_Incendio Maxima.'_

A sustained jet of fire like a muggle flamethrower flew towards Tom and hit him in the torso, and continued streaming from her wand for at least a minute before stopping. When the fire faded, Elizabeth was astounded to see Tom untouched and

Tom drew a wand that Elizabeth recognized as Ginny's and swiftly disarmed Elizabeth. Her wand flying out of sight, 'What are you? A shade?' Asked Elizabeth.

'_Since when can spirits use a wand? And what happened? He should be burnt to a crisp.'_

'A memory,' said Riddle quietly.' Preserved in a diary for fifty years.'

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the diary that Elizabeth and her friends had done their best to destroy.

'What do you want Tom? Why show me the visions?' Elizabeth said.

'I've waited a long time for this, Elizabeth Potter,' said Riddle. 'For the chance to see you. To speak to you.'

'How did Ginny get like this?' she asked slowly.

'Little Ginny was far from an ideal servant but her anguish and problems were my nourishment. I drank deep of them and grew strong again. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes — how her brothers _tease_ her, how she had to come to school with second-hand robes and books and how.' Riddle's eyes glinted; how she didn't think famous, good, great Elizabeth Potter would _ever_ respect her…'

Riddle laughed a high, cold laugh that made the hairs stand up on the back of Elizabeth's neck.

'_Megalomaniacal bastard! But there's only been one wizard since Grindelwald who'd be this evil.'_

'If I say it myself, Elizabeth, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley as I fed from her. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of _my_ secrets, to start pouring a little of _my_ soul back into _her_…'

'Your fall will be hard Riddle, all tyrants inevitably will fail, and the course of history is the proof.'

Riddle laughed, in gloating tones, 'hah, now that's where you're wrong, soon I shall return and become a new god, to rule over every soul. But as for little Ginny, it took a very long time for her to stop trusting the diary,' said Riddle. "'But she finally became suspicious and tried to dispose of it, and that's where _you_ came in, Elizabeth. You found it, though I had to change my plans when you attempted to destroy it, not that that helped you.'

Why did you want me?' said Elizabeth, anger was coursing through her, causing her to glow, much to Riddle's fascination.

Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Elizabeth,' said Riddle. 'Your whole _fascinating_ history.' His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Elizabeth's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "'I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, and meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to try to gain your trust.'

'Nice try, but that's what convinced me that you're the heir.'

'Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed… Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did…'

'I bet Dumbledore saw right through you,' said Elizabeth, her teeth gritted.

'Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled,' said Riddle carelessly. 'I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I had spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work.'

'Well, you haven't finished it,' said Elizabeth triumphantly.' No one has died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again, and as we speak, my friends are showing the evidence to the world of what you did.'

'Haven't I already told you,' said Riddle quietly, 'that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore? For many months now, my new target has been _you_. Imagine how angry I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Ginny who was writing to me, not you, what I did not expect was that Ginny had somehow guessed that you found the diary. So the foolish little brat waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery, particularly if some of your best friends were attacked. So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled, cried, and became _very_ boring. But there isn't much life left in her… She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last… I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you would come. I have many questions for you, Elizabeth Potter.'

'Like what?' Elizabeth spat, fists still clenched.

'Well,' said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, 'how is it that _you_, a slip of a girl with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did _you_ escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?'

There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now.

'Why do you care how I escaped?' said Elizabeth slowly. 'Voldemort was after your time…'

'Voldemort,' said Riddle softly, 'is my past, present, and future, Elizabeth Potter…'

He pulled Ginny's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

'_I thought so.' _Elizabeth thought to herself.

'You see?' he whispered.' It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Elizabeth, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!'

Elizabeth seethed at the revelations, '_So much murder, all that death out of spite, what kind of mind could sink so low, is there any kind of justice?'_

Elizabeth looked at Tom defiantly and said, 'You're not.'

'Not what?' snapped Riddle.

'Not the greatest sorcerer in the world,' said Elizabeth, breathing fast. 'Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try to take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days.'

The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.

'Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere _memory_ of me!' he hissed.

'He's not as gone as you might think!' Elizabeth retorted.

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze. Music was coming from somewhere; Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Elizabeth's scalp and made her heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size, and oddly it seemed to resonate within her and she had the strangest desire to burst into song herself. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that, Elizabeth began to feel the chamber resonating; a crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.

'_My queen, you summoned me? Let us together cleanse this place of evil.' _Elizabeth heard the voice in her head.

'_What, Fawkes? I can understand you. And since when was I a queen?' _Elizabeth asked the bird.

'_From birth my queen, this fool does not know who he is dealing with. Though your powers are not yet truly awakened, this fool has unleashed powers he could not possibly comprehend.' _Replied Fawkes.

Elizabeth heard her own voice resonate in the same musical tones as the phoenix as she spoke to it, much to Tom's fear and astonishment. Fawkes landed next to Elizabeth and dropped a bundle next to her, the singing stopped and the bird looked at Riddle.

'That's a phoenix.' said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it. And _that_ ' said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, 'that's the old school Sorting Hat.'

Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once, this is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Elizabeth Potter? Do you feel safe now?'

Elizabeth did not answer. She might not see what use Fawkes or the Sorting Hat were, but she was no longer alone, and she waited for Riddle to stop laughing with her courage and defiance mounting.

'Back to business, Elizabeth,' said Riddle, still smiling broadly. 'Twice in _your_ past, in _my_ future we have met, and twice I failed to kill you.'

'_How did you survive?_ Tell me everything. The longer you talk,' he added softly, 'the longer you stay alive.'

Elizabeth was thinking fast, weighing her chances, Riddle had a wand. Elizabeth had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would be much good in a duel. It looked bad, all right… but the longer Riddle stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny…And in the meantime, Elizabeth noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming clearer, more solid…If it had to be a fight between her and Riddle, better sooner than later. No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me,' said Elizabeth abruptly. 'I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't _kill _me. Because my mother died to save me. My common _Muggle-born_ mother,' she added, shaking with suppressed rage. 'She stopped you killing me, and I have seen what you became when I saw you last year. You are a wraith, barely alive, that's where all your power got you.'

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. 'So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now… there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all, even you must have noticed. Both half bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know.'

Elizabeth stood, waiting for the attack, as Riddle's twisted smile was widening again.

'Now, Elizabeth, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Elizabeth Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give her…'

He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, and then walked away. Elizabeth, fear spreading up her numb legs, watched Riddle stop between the high pillars and look up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed, but Elizabeth understood what he was saying…

'_Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four._'

Elizabeth watched Horror struck, as the statues mouth opened wider and wider, to make a huge black hole and from the hole…

Elizabeth backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as she shut his eyes tight, he felt Fawkes' wing sweep her cheek as he took flight.

'_Don't worry your majesty; let me even the odds a little.' _Elizabeth heard Fawkes reassurance. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber, Elizabeth felt the floor shudder, she knew what was happening. She could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth.

Then she heard Riddle's hissing voice: _'Kill her.'_

The basilisk was coming right for her, and she did not dare move, as she knew all snakes tracked their pray based on movement. Voldemort was laughing and then there was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above her, and then something heavy hit Elizabeth so hard that she was smashed into the wall. Waiting for fangs to sink through her body she heard more mad hissing, something thrashing wildly off the pillars and she couldn't help it, she opened her eyes wide enough to squint at what was going on. The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. As Elizabeth trembled, ready to close her eyes if it turned, she saw what had distracted the snake. Fawkes was soaring around its head, and the basilisk was snapping furiously at him with fangs long and thin as sabres. Fawkes dived. His long golden beak sank out of sight and a sudden shower of dark blood spattered the floor. The snake's tail thrashed, narrowly missing Elizabeth, and before she could shut her eyes, it turned. Elizabeth could see that it had been blinded by the phoenix and so had lost its most potent weapon

'_NO!_' Elizabeth heard Riddle screaming. '_LEAVE THE BIRD! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE GIRL IS BEHIND YOU. YOU CAN STILL SMELL HER. KILL HER!_'

The giant serpent was weaving, confused, while Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there at its scaly nose as the blood poured from its ruined eyes. At that time, the sorting hat was flung towards her and she caught it, she did not know why she did it, it was all she had left, her only chance as she rammed it onto her head and threw herself flat onto the floor as the basilisk's tail swung over her.

'_Help me — help me!'_ Elizabeth thought, her eyes screwed tight under the hat. '_Please help me.'_

There was no answering voice. Instead, the hat contracted, as though an invisible hand was squeezing it very tightly. Something very hard and heavy thudded onto the top of Elizabeth's head, almost knocking her out. Stars winking in front of her eyes, she grabbed the top of the hat to pull it off and felt something long and hard beneath it. A silver sword was hidden in the hat, and Elizabeth drew it out and held it as Riddle screamed again.

'_KILL THE GIRL! LEAVE THE BIRD! THE GIRL IS BEHIND YOU. SNIFF — SMELL HER._'

The basilisk's head was falling, its body coiling around, hitting pillars as it twisted to face her, the giant serpent lunged for her, Elizabeth looking right into it's mouth, opened wide enough to swallow her whole. Elizabeth braced herself and held the sword above her head as the serpent came closer and drove the blade to the hilt into the roof of the snake's mouth. However, as she felt the blood of the serpent drench her robes, she felt a terrible pain in her arm. As she sank to the floor, Elizabeth knew it was too late, even as she pulled the fang out of her arm. Elizabeth could hear Voldemort gloating as her vision faded, and with that, Elizabeth Potter died.

She woke up and amazingly found herself standing in space, and Elizabeth gazed about her and saw the stars and planets all around her, the earth a beautiful blue marble below her feet. The beauty of the cosmos was overwhelming to Elizabeth and she was not sure how long she stood there gazing into the infinite. Elizabeth looked at herself and saw a glow shining from her body, much brighter than any she remembered. The light that was streaming from her was a bright as the light of the stars she could see among the heavens that stretched as far as she could see. The wound in her arm was gone, and there wasn't a scratch on her, though her robes were still ripped and covered in blood. But as she gazed about her, she thought she could hear a strange crying sound from nearby, in a strange dark patch of space which made her uneasy. Elizabeth strode forward, walking through the starry night, following the noise towards its source . Elizabeth soon discovered where the sound had come from when she came upon a strange humanoid looking creature. A dark caricature of a baby, its skin red raw, eyes blood red, the thing lay abandoned, gasping for breath, no starlight shining upon it. Not even the glow which emanated from Elizabeth touched the thing. Elizabeth stood still and gazed at it, conflicted over what to do about it and thought to herself, '_What is this thing? Should I help it, or leave it?'_

Just as Elizabeth reached down to help the figure, two strangely familiar voices called to her.

'It is beyond help my child, oh my dear Lizzie, how much you've grown.'

'Snake face went too far years ago my dearest Lizzie.'

Elizabeth turned and gasped when she saw her mother and father standing there, dressed in white robes smiling broadly at her, a bright glow that matched Elizabeth's emanating from Lilly's body. Elizabeth called to her, 'Mother! Father!' and ran to them, throwing herself into her parents arms. Tears pouring down her face as she was reunited with her family at last. After what both seemed like an age and at the same time a brief moment, the Potters broke apart and all three of them gazed at the ugly creature laying before them and Lily spoke.

'My dear child, I know you have a million questions now, but I'm afraid I can only answer but a few as our time here is limited, so I'll begin with the key things you must know. Many years ago, as all stars do at great intervals, I fell to a nearby planet to search for a mate, for that is how new stars are born. We fall, take places amongst sentient families, are raised and in time choose our mates, give life to new stars and lead a mortal life upon the world we fell to. When our time is up, either by the sword or by the decay of time. Our mortal vessels perish, and we return to the heavens where we stay along with our mates until the cycles of life begin again. I fell onto England where I was adopted by the Evans family, not long after their youngest daughter died from the effects of a rare birth defect.'

Elizabeth felt shocked as she listened to the truth of her origins, 'I'm a star! Truly! And Aunt Petunia isn't actually related to me?'

Lilly shook her head, 'no, Tuney would have been too young to remember, but when we fall, we fall as babes, and so the Evans's raised me as Tuney's sister. I know you hate Tuney and Vernon, but unfortunately the wards there are strong, and until an alternative can be arranged, you will need to remain there. But as an extra bit of leverage from me, tell her that I am always watching her, and ask her why she wrote to Professor Dumbledore and asked to be "special" too.'

Elizabeth allowed the impact of it all to sink in as she gazed around at the heavens and her parents, before looking at the ugly humanoid and voicing her next question.

'Where does Voldemort fit into all this?'

James smiled and said, "While stars are eternal in the balance of the cosmos, they are not immortal as they follow the cycles of death and rebirth like all life forms in the universe. A prophecy was made not long before you were born by the descendant of a gifted seer, which stated:

'_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark the one as his equal, but the one will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …_'

James continued on, 'a death eater heard the first part of the prophecy, but was ejected before hearing the rest and reported what he heard to his master, though in time, that death eater came back to the light and vowed to do all he can to destroy his former master. Snake face started a huge hunt for mothers and children born around that time and came looking for us, as we were an obvious target.'

'So it was definitely me then?' Asked Elizabeth

'No my dear,' said Lilly, 'It could have been one of two children with families known to have fought and survived the Dark Lord three times and the other was Neville Longbottom. Nevertheless, he chose you for this destiny and attacked us. Your father and I did what we could to stop him, but our time on earth was over and he destroyed our mortal vessels. While we stars are strong and have many powers he could not dream of, we are not all powerful and he was able to overwhelm us. But he inadvertently made a fatal mistake, which has now saved your life and dealt him a heavy blow. For he had intended to use your death in the process of dark magic of the most evil, and when the killing curse struck you, a piece of his soul was implanted in your head.'

Elizabeth shuddered and looked at the thrashing thing nearby, just as her father nodded and continued explaining. 'By attempting to kill you today, he has destroyed one of seven soul anchors he possesses and has allowed you to become more powerful than he can imagine. That thing was living inside you and was acting like a parasite, drawing energy from you and stopping you from reaching your full potential. It also blocked you from learning of your birthright and allowed him easier access to your thoughts. But most importantly, it assisted in tethering him to the mortal plane, now you will truly awaken to your heritage and will go forth, more powerful than ever to continue your destiny.'

Elizabeth smiled at this, '_Snake face won't know what's hit him, and this does explain a lot.'_

Elizabeth posed the most important question, 'what about the basilisk? It killed me didn't it?'

Lilly smiled, 'no dear child, Fawkes got to you just in time to save your mortal vessel, long have the phoenixes been the messengers of the stars, which is why he addressed you as he did and why you can commune with him. No time is passing for us now, and you will awaken soon to destroy the shade of Tom Riddle and save your friend.'

Elizabeth somehow knew then that the time she had in that moment was ending, her parents seemed to know as well and Lilly spoke.

'Farewell for now my child, go forth and bring your light to the people of the world, and tell Severus that I have forgiven him and am proud of his redemption. Your path will be a long one my dear, for you have barely begun to discover your true power. I am always with you and will do what I may to help, though I cannot intervene directly.'

Lilly hugged her daughter as James spoke, 'back down you go Princess, kick Snake face from here to Antarctica for us. Do not worry about us my dear, we are still alive. Oh and tell Severus I'm sorry, he's a better wizard than I could have known. I'll always be watching you my dear, and though I won't be able to commune with you like your mother will be able to do in time, that doesn't mean I will be idle.'

James hugged her as well and as Elizabeth stood back, she heard another voice.

'ELIZABETH, MY CHILD YOU HAVE IMPRESSED ME WITH YOUR COURAGE AND YOUR POTENTIAL, FOR I AM THE CREATOR. LONG HAVE I STOOD AS THE GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE ULTIMATE ARBITER OF LIFE. YOU STAND AS A CHILD AMONG ELDERS, BUT A CHILD THAT SHOWS GREAT PROMISE. GO FORTH NOW, AND KNOW THAT I SHALL BE WATCHING YOU WITH GREAT INTEREST.'

Elizabeth swallowed nervously just as the world around her turned blinding white. She came to, lying on the chamber floor, seeing Fawkes with his head beside her arm, Tom Riddle was still laughing, but seeing her move, he realized that Fawkes had saved her.

'Get away, bird,' said Riddle's voice suddenly.' Get away from her, I said, _get away_.'

Elizabeth raised her head, Riddle was pointing Ginny's wand at Fawkes; there was a bang like a gun, and Fawkes took flight again in a whirl of gold and scarlet.

'Phoenix tears… said Riddle quietly, staring at Elizabeth's arm.' Of course… healing powers… I forgot…He looked into Elizabeth's face. 'But it makes no difference. In fact, I prefer it this way. Just you and me, Elizabeth Potter… you and me…'

He raised the wand and then, in a rush of wings, Fawkes had soared back overhead and something fell into Elizabeth's lap, _the diary_.

For a split second, both Elizabeth and Riddle, wand still raised, stared at it. Then, without thinking, Elizabeth seized the basilisk fang lying beside her and stabbed the diary, the fang running the book clean through. Elizabeth stood up and watched, as Riddle flayed around, screaming, light streaming from him as the diary oozed ink onto the floor in floods, like a beating heart. She faced Riddle and said,

'Today you have made a fatal mistake Riddle, know that I have learned the truth and soon the creator shall cast you down into the blackest pits of hell.'

Elizabeth made out the look of utter terror on Riddles face as he faded utterly and Ginny's wand fell to the floor. Silence filled the room except for the steady drip drip of ink still oozing from the diary, as the feeling of ancient evil seemed to lift from the room. Elizabeth let out a deep breath as the adrenalin wore off, her head spinning and her body feeling as if she had just fought ten rounds against a champion heavyweight boxer and then been run over by a bus on the way home from the bout. She retrieved her wand and put it away before pulling the sword from the mouth of the basilisk. A faint moan then came from the end of the chamber as Ginny woke up and as Elizabeth hurried toward her, she sat up. Her bemused eyes travelled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Elizabeth in a blood soaked uniform and she drew a great, shuddering gasp and tears began to pour down her face.

'Lizzie, oh, Lizzie, I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy. It was _me_, Lizzie but I, I s-swear I d-didn't mean to R-Riddle made me, he t-took me over, and — _how_ did you kill that — that thing? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r-remember is him coming out of the diary and Lizzie, you're glowing!'

Elizabeth looked down; sure enough, she was casting a faint light that illuminated the chamber around her.

'It's all right Ginny," said Elizabeth, holding up the diary, and showing Ginny the fang hole, 'Riddle's finished, and he has no idea of the powers he is meddling with. As for me, it'd take way too long to explain now, now let's get you out of here.'

'I'm going to be expelled!' Ginny wept as Elizabeth helped her awkwardly to her feet. 'I've looked forward to coming to Hogwarts ever since B-Bill came and n-now I'll have to leave and — _w-what'll Mum and Dad say_?'

Elizabeth somehow knew that Ginny would be okay and said to her, 'It'll be alright Ginny; I don't think they'll hold this against you, you were possessed by the shade of a man who charmed almost an entire faculty at one point.'

Fawkes was waiting for them, hovering in the Chamber entrance and spoke to Elizabeth.

'_Well done my queen, it has been an honour to serve you today and assist in cleansing you from that which plagued your body and soul.'_

Elizabeth smiled and said, '_thank you Fawkes, you saved me and I won't forget it.'_

Elizabeth urged Ginny forward and they stepped over the motionless coils of the dead basilisk, through the echoing gloom, and back into the tunnel. Elizabeth heard the stone doors close behind them with a soft hiss. After a few minutes' progress up the dark tunnel, a distant sound of slowly shifting rock reached Elizabeth's ears.

'Hey Guys!' Elizabeth yelled, speeding up. 'Ginny's okay! I've got her!'

Elizabeth heard everyone give a strangled cheer, and they turned the next bend to see Ron's eager face staring through the sizable gap the group had managed to make in the rock fall.

'_Ginny!_' Ron thrust an arm through the gap in the rock to pull her through first. 'You're alive! I don't believe it! What happened? How — what — where did that bird come from?'

Fawkes had swooped through the gap after Ginny.

'He's Dumbledore's, and he's also an ally of mine' said Elizabeth, squeezing through herself.

The group were shocked as they gazed at Elizabeth, seeing the glow she emitted and were stunned into silence until Elizabeth broke it.

'Where's Lockhart?'

"'Back there,' said Charles, still looking awed but jerking his head up the tunnel toward the pipe. Following Fawkes and Elizabeth, the group followed the tunnel and found the man bound and gagged by the end of the pipe. Forcing him up, they walked to the end and Charlotte spoke up, 'any idea's on getting out of here Lizzie?'

Elizabeth looked at it, and then Fawkes flew in front of the group and urged Elizabeth to take hold of his tail feathers. 'But you're much too heavy for a bird to pull up there,' said Fitzwilliam.

'Fawkes,' said Elizabeth 'isn't an ordinary bird.'

Fawkes pulled the group up the pipe, the chill air was whipping through Elizabeth's hair, and before she had stopped enjoying the ride, it was over, all of them were hitting the wet floor of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and Myrtle spoke to them, her jaw dropping, eyes wide.

'You're? No, you can't be, impossible…'

'What's she on about Lizzie?' said Ron.

'I really only want to tell this once, but where do we go now?'

Charlotte smiled and said, 'I think it's time to face the music, so I'd say we'd better find my mum before she has kittens.'

The whole group, even Ginny laughed their heads off as they got the joke and soon Elizabeth knocked on the door to Professor McGonagall's office.


	17. Chapter 17

What a Difference One Chromosome Makes: Part 2

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Occasional bad language, action violence, fluff, spoilers for those who haven't read the books & slightly ooc main characters.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and do not own any of the copyrights to any borrowed characters or locations used in this work and this is not written for profit. All other known characters and locations borrowed in this work belong to their respective copyright owners.

Summary: My take on the Fem Harry scenario with a few unique twists and a tribute to one of the greatest stories ever written.

Chapter 17: Dobby's Reward

_Authors note: At last, the end of my take on Chamber of Secrets has come, I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it as I have writing it. I will be steadily be editing the older chapters of this fic and my take on Philosophers Stone over the next week or so, which should clear the worst of the grammar mistakes and inconsistencies. If you're wondering where I got the idea for turning Elizabeth into an earth walking star, I like some of the 'creature Harry' fics, but just about all of them always pick: Male Veela, Vampire, Werewolf, Demon, Elf, Siren or similar and I wanted something original. It is also a homage to Stardust, (Happy birthday Claire Danes), and to Chronicle's of Narnia. (If anybody knows what happened to the 'Narnia's New age series by StardustFromThePlanetGallifrey, can you please PM me? Those were the best Narnia fics ever written on this site and were considerably better than CS Lewis's original stories, but simply vanished recently.) I will be starting a poll when I release part 3 on the role of the Wickham type villain who will play his part during Goblet of Fire. For now, enjoy the conclusion of my work and don't forget to review._

Elizabeth pushed open the door to the office and there was a long moment as both groups of people stared at each other, with Elizabeth's group all covered with slime and Elizabeth's case, blood and the sight of Lockhart who was bound in ropes. Then there was a sudden scream, _Ginny!' _from Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter. Elizabeth, however, was looking past them, Professor Dumbledore was standing by the mantelpiece, beaming, next to Professor McGonagall, who was taking great, steadying gasps, clutching her chest, and Professor Snape who wore his usual grimace that Elizabeth saw when he was faced with stress. Fawkes took off and flew onto Dumbledore's shoulder, piping his music into the room, which seemed to slowly begin to settle the crowd down.

Elizabeth found herself and Ron pulled into Mrs Weasley's embrace, while Professor McGonagall pulled Charlotte to her as Mrs. Weasley choked out.

'You saved her! How did you do it? And Lizzie, what is going on? You're glowing?'

Professor Snape strode over to them, 'I think everyone wants the same answers Molly, believe me, I do for one.'

Elizabeth gazed about her, took a deep breath and began to speak and tell them everything that had happened that year. About her suspicions, of her visions, hearing the voice in the walls. How she had found the information about Moaning Myrtle and how they had guessed that the chamber was concealed in her bathroom, and what she had found when she had tried to enlist Lockhart to help, the adults all glared at him and looked ready to lynch him if he so much as moved.

'Very well,' Professor McGonagall prompted her as she paused, 'so you found out where the entrance was, breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add .But how on _earth_ did you all get out of there alive, Potter?'

So Elizabeth, her voice now growing hoarse from all this talking, told them about Fawkes's timely arrival and about the Sorting Hat giving her the sword, how she had been bitten, saved by Fawkes, of her heritage and what her parents had told her…Which caused every jaw in the room to drop as they looked at her. Snape looked at her and said, 'Albus, what does this mean?'

Dumbledore looked just as perplexed, 'I do not know, while there have been several reports of stars walking amongst us through the millennia, there is almost no reliable information anywhere. Such information that does exist is usually tangled in myth and legend, as the heavens are a mystery that scholarship has barely begun to understand. Some have theorized that several of history's greatest and most powerful individuals were actually stars, while others have said that the stars will only fall when the world is in great peril and the creator wishes to intervene.'

Everyone paused as the impact of this sank in and Professor McGonagall spoke up, the awe clear on her face.

'You truly saw Lilly and James? And heard the voice of the creator?'

Elizabeth nodded, still coming to terms with the impact herself as Snape said, "Did Lilly say anything?"

Elizabeth smiled and said, 'Yes, she said that she is proud of your redemption, and that she doesn't blame you. Father said he's sorry as well and that you're a better wizard than he could have ever believed.'

Elizabeth could not believe her eyes but saw the haunted look on the mans face disappear a broad grin replacing it, and a few tears fell from his eyes, as a great weight seemed to remove itself from his shoulders. The adults turned attention back to the Chamber of Secrets and Elizabeth thought of what to say next. Thus far, she had not told of the diary or Ginny, she was standing with her head against Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, and tears were still coursing silently down her cheeks.

'_How do I explain this to them?' _thought Elizabeth.

Riddle's diary did not work anymore… How could they prove it had been _he_ who had made her do it all? Instinctively, Elizabeth looked at Dumbledore, who smiled faintly, the firelight and Elizabeth's starlight glancing off his half-moon spectacles.

'What interests _me_ most,' said Dumbledore gently, 'is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania.'

Elizabeth smiled as she realised that Ginny had been vindicated, 'W-what's that?' said Mr. Weasley in a stunned voice.' You_-Know-Who_? En-enchant _Ginny_? But Ginny's not… Ginny hasn't been… has she?'

'It was this diary,' said Elizabeth quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore.' Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…I stabbed it with the fang and it destroyed the shade of Riddle in the Chamber'.

Dumbledore took the diary from Elizabeth and peered keenly down his long, crooked nose at its burnt and soggy pages.

'Brilliant,' he said softly. 'Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen.'

He turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered. "Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school… travelled far and wide…Sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here.'

'But, Ginny,' said Mrs. Weasley. 'What's our Ginny got to do with — with — _him_?'

'His d-diary' Ginny sobbed.' I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year —'

'_Ginny!_' said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. 'Haven't I taught you _anything_? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself _if you can't see where it keeps its brain_? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was _clearly_ full of Dark Magic!'

'I d-didn't know,' sobbed Ginny.' I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it —'

'Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away,' Dumbledore interrupted in a firm voice. 'This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort.'

He strode over to the door and opened it.' Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up,' he added, twinkling kindly down at her. 'You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice — I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment.'

'So Hermione's okay!' said Ron brightly.

"Jane too?" Said Charles, Elizabeth smiling as she noticed his trademark cheeriness return for the first time since the attack.

'There has been no lasting harm done, to any of the victims,' said Dumbledore.

Mrs. Weasley led Ginny out, and Mr. Weasley followed, still looking deeply shaken.

'You know, Minerva,' Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully to Professor McGonagall, 'I think all this merits a good _feast_. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?'

'Right,' said Professor McGonagall crisply, also moving to the door.' I'll leave you to handle this lot and Lockhart then Albus, but send Charlotte to me when you've finished.'

Elizabeth noticed Charlotte develop a look of fear in that moment.

'Certainly,' said Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall left, and Elizabeth, Charlotte, Fitzwilliam, Charles and Ron all gazed uncertainly at Dumbledore. What exactly had Professor McGonagall meant when she said 'handle' them? Surely _surely_, they weren't about to be punished?

'I seem to remember telling you, that I would not tolerate more serious breaches of the rules,' said Dumbledore. Which goes to show that even I must back down in the face of extreme courage and loyalty to ones classmates. You will all receive Special Awards for Services to the School, and, let me see, yes, I think one hundred points apiece for Gryffindor.'

Everyone let out a breath, Ron and Charles both turned pink. Dumbledore then turned towards Lockhart who stood forgotten behind them, still bound head to foot in ropes, and gagged. Dumbledore looked him straight in the eye and seemed to lose some of his focus for a time. His facial expressions clearly telling Elizabeth that he did not like what he was seeing. At last, he turned away, the disgust clear on his face as he said.

'Miss McGonagall, will you kindly escort this man to the security tower and have him put in a cell while I contact the aurors to come and get him. I am afraid he has been taking advantage of some of our female students and taking obscene photographs in the process. When you've finished, your mother wishes to see you.'

Charlotte nodded as Dumbledore turned to Fitzwilliam, 'perhaps you could go with her Mr Longbottom? Just to be safe.'

The two of them got Lockhart moving and walked away while Dumbledore faced Ron, 'would you kindly take these release papers to the Owlery Mr Weasley? We'll be needing our gamekeeper back at work, afterwards you may as well head to the feast.'

Ron nodded and left and Dumbledore faced Charles, 'Mr Peterson, I believe Madam Pomfrey is just giving out the Mandrake potion now, if you wish, you may go to the infirmary, the Granger twins should be awake soon.'

Charles smiled and all but ran out, leaving Elizabeth alone with the old man, who approached her with an expression close to reverence on his face.

'First of all, Elizabeth, I want to thank you,' said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling again. Once again, you have faced evil and triumphed, Mr Riddle cannot begin to understand just what it is he has unleashed. Elizabeth stroked the phoenix, which had fluttered down onto her knee. Elizabeth smiled awkwardly as Dumbledore watched her.

'And so you met Tom Riddle,' said Dumbledore thoughtfully. 'I imagine he was _most_ interested in you…'

Elizabeth nodded, 'yes he was, but that had nothing to do with what I am, he said he and I share many likenesses.'

Dumbledore nodded, 'indeed, yes, you do. You both possess many qualities that Slytherin himself would have praised determination, resourcefulness and a certain disregard for the rules. But Elizabeth, the hat placed you in Gryffindor for one key reason above all others.'

Elizabeth looked meek, 'because I asked it to.'

'_Exactly_,' said Dumbledore, beaming once more.' This is what makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Elizabeth, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. You could easily have mirrored Tom Riddle if you had chosen that path. You could have chosen to loath all muggles and seek your vengeance on them because of your aunt and uncle, you could have chosen to accept the hand of friendship from those who would seek to divide the world and yet you did not.'

Elizabeth sat motionless in her chair, stunned. 'If you want proof, Elizabeth, that you belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closely at _this_.'

Dumbledore reached across to Professor McGonagall's desk, picked up the bloodstained silver sword, and handed it to Elizabeth. Dully, Elizabeth turned it over, the rubies blazing in the firelight, and then he saw the name engraved just below the hilt, _Godric Gryffindor_,

'Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled _that_ out of the hat Elizabeth,' said Dumbledore simply.

Another thing was bothering Elizabeth and she said, 'About the soul anchors sir, what will happen now that the one inside me has been cleansed.'

Dumbledore looked pleased as he looked at Elizabeth and said. 'Tonight has proven my theory as to how Voldemort did not die on that night 11 years ago. He has created several dark anchors, which are known as Horcruxes to bind his soul to the world. Your body has now been cleansed of Voldemort's taint, and while previously I feared that the destruction of the Horcrux he never intended to make would have caused your own demise, you are now free to truly live. What the long term affects of its removal will be, I do not know, no human has ever been subject to this, and certainly, to my knowledge no stars have ever been either. Certainly, the drain on your magic shall cease and so you will become more powerful, as to the other affects of tonight I cannot say. Basilisk venom and phoenix tears are immensely powerful substances and once in a living body, they never leave. What affects they will have, I can only speculate on. I promise you to look through every resource I can and then send you what information I can discover.'

Elizabeth paused as the information sunk in and Professor Dumbledore spoke again 'may I ask you one favour Elizabeth? Please do not reveal what we have found about Tom's attempts to conquer death, the little information I possess has taken me years to discover and if word reached Tom of what we know, I fear that he would render my efforts of identifying, finding and destroying the Horcruxes impossible. While I believe you are safe from those who would steal the truth from your mind, those around you are not.'

Elizabeth agreed to this as he was making sense and for a minute, neither of them spoke and then Dumbledore dismissed her by saying.

'What you need Elizabeth is some food and rest, I must draft an advertisement for the _Daily Prophet_, ' he added thoughtfully.' We'll be needing a new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher for next year… Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?''

Elizabeth got up and crossed to the door, she had just reached for the handle, however, when the door burst open so violently that it bounced back off the wall.

Lucius Malfoy stood there, fury in his face. And cowering behind his legs, heavily wrapped in bandages, was _Dobby_.

'Good evening, Lucius,' said Dumbledore pleasantly.'

Mr. Malfoy almost knocked Elizabeth over as he swept into the room. Dobby went scurrying in after him, crouching at the hem of his cloak, a look of abject terror on his face. The elf was carrying a stained rag with which he was attempting to finish cleaning Mr. Malfoys shoes. Apparently, Mr. Malfoy had set out in a great hurry, for not only were his shoes half-polished, but his usually sleek hair was dishevelled. Ignoring the elf bobbing apologetically around his ankles, he fixed his cold eyes upon Dumbledore.

'So!' he said 'You've come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts.'

'Well, you see, Lucius,' said Dumbledore, smiling serenely, 'the other governors with the exception of Mr Parkinson contacted me today. It was something like being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth, they had heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been killed and wanted me back here at once. They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me, too… Several of them seemed to think that you and a group called 'The Commission' had threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place.'

Mr. Malfoy went even paler than usual, but his eyes were still slits of fury as he spoke, 'so, have you stopped the attacks yet?' he sneered. Have you caught the culprit?'"

'We have,' said Dumbledore, with a smile.

'_Well_?' said Mr. Malfoy sharply. 'Who is it?'

'The same person as last time, Lucius,' said Dumbledore.' But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary.'

He held up the small black book with the large hole through the centre, watching Mr. Malfoy closely. Elizabeth, however, was watching Dobby. The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed meaningfully on Elizabeth; he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist.

'I see…' said Mr. Malfoy slowly to Dumbledore.

'A clever plan,' said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring Mr. Malfoy straight in the eye. 'Because if Elizabeth here —'" Mr. Malfoy shot Elizabeth a swift, sharp look 'and her friends hadn't discovered this book and the effects it was having, why, Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn't acted of her own free will…'

Mr. Malfoy said nothing. His face was suddenly mask like.

'And imagine,' Dumbledore went on, 'what might have happened then… The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pureblood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing Muggle-borns…Very fortunate the diary was discovered, and Riddle's memories wiped from it. Who knows what the consequences might have been otherwise…'

Mr. Malfoy forced himself to speak. 'Very fortunate,' he said stiffly.

Still, behind his back, Dobby was pointing, first to the diary, then to Lucius Malfoy, then punching himself in the head and Elizabeth finally figured out the last clue.

'_So it was Lucy and Sally all along? I should have known.' _Elizabeth made eye contact with Dobby and winked.

'Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr. Malfoy?' said Elizabeth, Lucius Malfoy rounded on her.

'How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?' he said.

'Because you gave it to her,' said Elizabeth.' In Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her old Transfiguration book and slipped the diary inside it, didn't you?'

Elizabeth watched Mr. Malfoy's white hands clench and unclench as though he was itching to curse her, and Elizabeth kept one hand on her own wand, ready to respond if he tried.

'Prove it,' he hissed in response.

'Oh, no one will be able to do that,' said Dumbledore," smiling at Elizabeth. 'Not now that Riddle has vanished from the book. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you…'

Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and Elizabeth distinctly saw his right hand twitch again, instead, he turned to his house-elf.

'We're going, Dobby!'

He wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him, he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor.

Elizabeth stood for a moment, thinking hard and then decided, 'Professor Dumbledore,' she said hurriedly. 'Can I give that diary _back_ to Mr. Malfoy, please?'

'Certainly, Elizabeth,' said Dumbledore calmly.' But hurry. The feast, remember…'"

Elizabeth grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office. She could hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly, wondering if this plan could possibly work, Elizabeth took off one of her shoes, pulled off her slimy, filthy stocking and stuffed it into the diary and then she ran down the dark corridor.

She caught up with them at the top of the stairs, 'Mr. Malfoy,' she gasped, skidding to a halt, 'I've got something for you, and she forced the diary into his hand, he threw it aside where Dobby caught it.

'What the? Dobby, come on you wretched beast.'

But Dobby didn't move, he was holding up Elizabeth's disgusting, slimy stocking, and looking at it as though it were a priceless treasure.

'Master has given Dobby a stocking,' said the elf in wonderment.' Master gave it to Dobby.

'What's that?' spat Mr. Malfoy. 'What did you say?'

'Got a stocking,' said Dobby in disbelief.' Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby, Dobby is _free_.'

Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf then he lunged at Elizabeth.

'You've lost me my servant, girl!'

But Dobby shouted, 'you shall not harm Elizabeth Potter!'

There was a loud bang, and Mr. Malfoy was thrown backward, crashing down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap on the landing below. He got up, his face livid, and pulled out his wand, but Dobby raised a long, threatening finger.

'You shall go now,' he said fiercely, pointing down at Mr. Malfoy. 'You shall not touch Elizabeth Potter, you shall go now.'

'Mark my words Potter, one day you'll meet the same end as your parents.'

Elizabeth laughed at the stupidity of his threat and said, 'Is that the best you can come up with Lucy? Do you think that you and your little band of self-important inbred Dark Age sycophantic morons actually scare me? Well you're wrong.'

Lucius Malfoy had no choice but to leave and with a last, incensed stare at the pair of them, he swung his cloak around him and hurried out of sight. 'Elizabeth Potter freed Dobby!' said the elf shrilly, gazing up at Elizabeth, moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes, Elizabeth Potter set me free.'

Dobby looked closely at Elizabeth, his eyes widened and he said, 'Your majesty? Forgive me, Dobby did what he thought was best, but Dobby would never dare interfere with the all fathers will, if Dobby had known…..'

'Ah, then you know what I am? But never mind Dobby, least I could do, I really don't like Lucy. But please do me a favour, don't try and save my life again?'

The elf's ugly brown face split suddenly into a wide, toothy smile as he nodded.

'I've just got one question, Dobby,' said Elizabeth as Dobby used magic to resize the stocking and then put it on. 'You told me all this had nothing to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember?'

'Well….' Elizabeth continued.

'It was a clue, your majesty,' said Dobby, his eyes widening, as though this was obvious. 'Was giving you a clue. The Dark Lord, before he changed his name, could be freely named, you see?'

'Right, I see' said Elizabeth weakly.' Well, I'd better go, there's a feast, and my friends Hermione and Jane should be awake by now…'

Dobby bowed low, 'Elizabeth Potter is far greater than Dobby ever knew, greater than anybody could know, Dobby shall never forget this debt, ever.'

'Farewell, your majesty!'

And with a final loud crack, Dobby disappeared and Elizabeth made her way downstairs. Elizabeth had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this as everybody was in their pyjamas, and the celebration lasted all night. Elizabeth didn't know whether the best bit was Hermione and Jane running toward her, screaming 'You solved it! You solved it!" before doing their best to squeeze Elizabeth to death. Or Justin hurrying over from the Hufflepuff table to wring her hand and apologize endlessly for suspecting her. Or Hagrid showing up a few hours later and knocking them all flat into a mound of trifle, her and the groups five hundred points for Gryffindor securing the House Cup for the second year running, or Professor McGonagall standing up to tell them all that the exams had been cancelled as a school treat. Hermione actually looked sad when they announced this, Elizabeth herself was satisfied when Dumbledore announced that Professor Lockhart had been arrested and was going to be tried for his crimes and was facing life in Azkaban.

The secret of Elizabeth's true heritage did not emerge much to her relief, even though the scar on her head had faded all but completely. Her friends did know and were in awe of her and Charles even cracked a joke on the subject. 'I always thought you were quite bright Lizzie.'

The group laughed and Elizabeth blushed and smiled as they all soaked up the liberating atmosphere of the castle being free from the fear that had gripped it. The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine as Hogwarts slowly came back to normal with only a few, small differences. Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were cancelled and Lucius Malfoy and Salazar Parkinson had been sacked as school governors, which made everyone happy as Draco and Pansy were no longer strutting around the school as though they owned the place. The pair of them were hardly seen and Elizabeth hoped that they would learn their lesson but doubted it. Ginny however was recovering from her ordeal and growing stronger day by day, all too soon for Elizabeth, it was time for the journey back to London on the Hogwarts Express. Elizabeth, Hermione, Charles, Ron, Jane, Fred, George, and Ginny all got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours before they were due to separate for the holidays and spent the time playing games, practising their duelling magic and setting off the last of Fred and Georges joke supplies.

They were almost at King's Cross when Elizabeth remembered something else.

'Ginny – what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?'

'Oh, that,' said Ginny, giggling.' Well, Lizzy, we were right, Percy has got a _girlfriend_.'

Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head.

'_What?_'

'It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater,' said Ginny.' That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them _kissing_ in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was, you know, attacked. You won't tease him, will you?' she added anxiously.

'Wouldn't dream of it Ginny,' said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early.

'Definitely not,' said George, sniggering. Elizabeth recognized the outer suburbs of London and the group broke up to change into muggle clothing, when Elizabeth came back into the compartment she took out her quill and wrote the Dursley's phone number on a few pieces of paper and passed them round.

'Call me alright, all of you, I told your dad how to use a phone Ron, he'll know how. I just can't stand the idea of two whole months with only Dudley to talk to, they always thought I was a freak before, but now…..'

Elizabeth shivered at the thought of what they'd think when they realized she wasn't even human. Jane smiled, 'I doubt they'd be foolish enough to do anything Lizzie, I heard what you did to Lockhart, are they crazy enough to risk that?'

'Cheer up Lizzie, you'll be fine, I doubt you'll have to be there all summer.' said Fitzwilliam.

After parting hugs from her friends, Elizabeth strode through the portal to face her destiny as she crossed into the muggle world.


End file.
